Labour’s British Muslim Sadiq Khan has been reelected for a second term, pledging to build a “better and brighter future” for the capital following the pandemic.
“I will always be a mayor for all Londoners, working to improve the lives of every single person in this city,” he said in the victory speech at the City Hall, BBC reported.
“The results of the elections around the UK shows our country, and even our city, remains deeply divided.
“The scars of Brexit have yet to heal. A crude culture war is pushing us further apart.”
He won 55.2% of the popular vote, after entering a run-off with his Conservative rival Shaun Bailey when neither managed to secure a majority in the first round of voting.
The former MP became the first Muslim mayor of an EU capital city when he was first elected to the role in 2016.
Khan said there was more that united people than divided them and pledged to “build bridges rather than walls between City Hall and the government, and to create a greener, fairer and safer city for all Londoners, to get the opportunities they need to fulfil their potential”.
He promised “to strain every sinew to help build a better, brighter future for London”.
Who Is Khan?
Khan grew up one of eight kids in a crowded South London apartment.
He escaped the lower working class neighborhood to study law at the University of North London, and became a human rights lawyer before he was elected to Parliament in 2005 as a member of the Labour Party.
Khan studied law at the University of North London and later practiced as a human rights solicitor before being elected to Parliament in 2005 representing the ward he grew up in on a Labour Party ticket.
He has also served as minister of state for communities and transport minister.
Khan is the first Muslim mayor to be elected to lead a Western European city as Rotterdam’s Ahmed Aboutaleb was appointed rather than elected to the post in 2009.