In London, Sadiq Khan on track to win new mayoral mandate
Labor Sadiq Khan is on his way to winning a new mandate in London.
Niklas HALLE'N AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
The British are back to the polls.
The first ballot, mainly for local elections, since the start of the pandemic caused by the coronavirus and the entry into force of Brexit.
In London, 5 years after becoming the first Muslim mayor of a Western capital, Labor Sadiq Khan is on his way to winning a new mandate in London.
He is opposed to Shaun Bailey, a conservative of Jamaican descent far behind in the polls.
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This time, no big battle or one flaming chosen one in sight.
After the reign of Ken Livingstone nicknamed "Ken the Red", the mayor who had made his mark on transport, congestion charge and public transport card;
after the tenure of Boris Johnson which made so much smile with in particular this image remained in memory where to praise the Olympic Games he got stuck on a zipline in the air, Sadiq Khan, him, does not seem to make Londoners dream.
Insecurity and in particular knife attacks, social housing, pandemic, on all these points its record is considered disappointing.
An opponent of the penalty
If Sadiq Khan seems on the way to re-election, it is without fanfare and especially because his main competitor is struggling.
Shaun Bailey, from a family originally from Jamaica, one of the rare figures of diversity within the Conservative Party, had a hard time convincing.
His proposal to have executives tested for their cocaine use barely met with resonance.
Anxious not to be associated with a very likely defeat, the Prime Minister and former mayor of the city has even refrained from helping him.
Voters will vote this Thursday, May 6 for the mayors of seven agglomeration-regions, including those of the West Midlands (which includes the UK's second most populous city, Birmingham), Greater Manchester and Liverpool.
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