Boris is re-elected and other electoral matters

[x_butterfly19_x]

Boris Johnson has won a second term as London mayor, beating Labour rival Ken Livingstone by 3%, after a far closer contest than expected.

Mr Johnson won on second preference votes after failing to gain more than 50% in the first round.

He bucked the national trend after heavy Tory losses elsewhere.

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Comments

[ruby_chalice]

Tbh, I think the NATIONAL results are far more important/noteworthy than the London Mayoral Election. The 'Boris & Ken Show' only affects Londoners. Frankly the coverage they get on all the major news channels is bizarre. Both are arseholes imo. And if even a small percentage of the country think that Boris Johnson is a potential future canditate for No10 then we are fucking doomed.

[x_butterfly19_x]

IA. Overall Labour made huge gains and the Lib Dems were sqeezed almost entirely out of the picture. The Coalition are slumping.

[pageup]

Well we know the Olympics will a have comedy element now.

[x_butterfly19_x]

oh God
is the Mayor definitely involved?

[pageup]

Yup, the flag handover is a Mayor thing for definite and I think there's maybe a speech required.

[x_butterfly19_x]

well that will be interesting

[ceilidh_ann]

If you needed any further proof that the media is too London-centric, check out the Mayoral election coverage. In no way was it indicative of a national trend in the way the local elections were. If the race showed anything, it might have been its influence in so many cities voting no to their own mayoral system.

I did enjoy the sheer amount of desperate Tory spin on the Labour landslide. Warsi said it'd be a shambles for Labour if they got less than 700 gains. They got 823. Not too shabby. Also worth noting Glasgow City Council stayed Labour despite SNP's desperate push to take the city (oh, Salmond's smug back-tracking was glorious!), and did better in Scotland than anticipated. But as far as some Tories are concerned, anything less than winning all the seats, London mayor, X Factor winner and President of France is a sign of Miliband's weakness. #savedave

Also, Tory MPs who seriously think gay marriage and lord's reform were to blame for their losses - what's the weather like on your planet?

[octoberstarlite]

The attitude seemed to be, 'So what if Labour took Wales, Scotland and a significant section of England by storm, we got London so who gives a eff what they think or want.' Orly? Why am I not surprised?

I'm so confused by that reaction by the tories too. So more people voted for a lefter leaning party and their reaction is not, 'hmm, maybe we need to be more liberal? Lib dems what you got?' No, it's 'Oh no! We must be more right wing!' wtf?

[vampirespider]

Well, Labour's gains are nothing compared to UKIP getting 13% in the areas where they stood, am I right? So it makes perfect sense that if only the Tories were to move slightly to the right and maybe start yelling about how the foreigners are coming to get us again, they'll be back on top in no time.

< / sarcasm >

[octoberstarlite]

I just don't understand how these people got into a position of power. Their not smart. What is this fuckery?