In London, Mayor Sadiq Khan has, as expected, secured a third term in office. The politician from the social democratic Labor Party prevailed against his conservative competitor Susan Hall in the local elections in the British capital, as the electoral commission announced on Saturday. The 53-year-old received 43.7 percent of the votes, his challenger received 32.6 percent, as the broadcaster Sky News reported.
Khan has been the first Muslim city leader in the metropolis since 2016. With his re-election, he is the first mayor to secure a third term at the top of the city. During the election campaign, the Social Democrat promised, among other things, to offer free school meals in the future and to freeze local transport prices. He wants to create 40,000 new social housing units and ensure that homeless people no longer have to sleep on the streets by 2030.
The fact that Khan extended the low emission zone, which his predecessor Boris Johnson had introduced for the city center, to the entire city area caused criticism. Commuters and tradesmen in particular complained that they had to purchase new, expensive vehicles.