Amid chaotic scenes marked by power cuts and missing ballot boxes that drew comparison with “Third World standards”, Boris Johnson on Saturday scraped through to win a second term as London's Tory Mayor defeating his Labour rival Ken Livingstone, himself a former Mayor, by a razor-thin majority.
Mr. Johnson admitted that he had anxious moments as the counting went down to the wire, and joked that he wanted a promise from Mr. Livingstone that he would not contest against him again.
Livingstone bows out
Mr. Livingstone, his voice often choked with emotion, effectively announced his retirement from front line politics saying “this will be my last election”.
“I will spend the rest of my life regretting we didn't win this one because it would have made a lot of difference to people's lives,” he said.
Mr. Johnson vowed to work his “socks off” to keep his election pledges.
“I promise everybody in this city, that I and my team will work our socks off to deliver on our vision and our programme for London,” he said.
Prime Minister David Cameron, reeling from his party's heavy losses in local elections across the country, said he was “delighted” with Mr. Johnson's victory and praised him for fighting a “very strong campaign”.
