Mayor of Tower Hamlets
| Mayor of Tower Hamlets | |
|---|---|
Incumbent Vacant | |
| Style | No courtesy title or style |
| Appointer | Electorate of Tower Hamlets |
| Term length | Four years |
| Inaugural holder | Lutfur Rahman |
| Formation | May 2010 referendum |
The directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets is the vacant position of directly elected mayor, first elected on 21 October 2010, taking on the executive function of Tower Hamlets London Borough Council in east London, England. The position is different from the previous largely ceremonial, annually appointed mayors of Tower Hamlets, who became known as the 'Chair of Council' after the first election and are now known as the 'Speaker of Council'.[1] The second election was held on 22 May 2014, the same day as the Tower Hamlets Council election, other United Kingdom local elections, and European Parliament elections.
Referendum
The proposal to change the status of the borough from one with a leader and cabinet to one with an executive mayor was initially opposed by all the main political parties and was an initiative only proposed and supported by the Respect Party. Respect[citation needed] and Islamic Forum Europe organised a petition to trigger a referendum for this change.[2] Council officers stated that almost half the signatures were invalid, with entire pages bearing the same handwriting. Despite the flaws in the petition, there were sufficient valid signatures for the council to accept it, and a referendum was held on 6 May 2010 simultaneously with the voting in the United Kingdom general election. The referendum was passed after an intensive campaign.[2]
| Choice | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
 Elected Mayor
|
60,758 | 60.3 |
| Cabinet System | 39,857 | 39.7 |
| Total votes | 100,615 | 100.00 |
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph on 17 October, Andrew Gilligan represented the forthcoming election as the first big test for the recently elected Labour leader Ed Miliband, given the possibility of an independent candidate defeating the official Labour candidate in a strong Labour borough. Gilligan also said that it raised concerns over the political power of radical Islam in the UK, because of Rahman's connections with Islamic Forum Europe. The latter, along with local business interests which had supported the petition and referendum to have a mayor, prominently backed Rahman's campaign.[2] Labour's former London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, also campaigned in support of Rahman, in breach of Labour Party rules.[3]
Elections
2010
The first election took place on Thursday 21 October 2010, with a 25.6 per cent turn out.[4] The new mayor officially took office on Monday 25 October 2010.[5]
| Tower Hamlets mayoral election 21 October 2010[4] | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | 1st round votesTransfer votes, 2nd round | |||||
| Total | Of round | Transfers | Total | Of round | |||||
| Independent | Lutfur Rahman | 23,283 | 51.8% |
| |||||
| Labour | Helal Uddin Abbas | 11,254 | 25.0% |
| |||||
| Conservative | Neil King | 5,348 | 11.9% |
| |||||
| Liberal Democrats | John Griffiths | 2,800 | 6.2% |
| |||||
| Green | Alan Duffell | 2,300 | 5.1% |
| |||||
| Turnout | 44,985 | 25.6 | |||||||
| Independent win | |||||||||
2014
| Tower Hamlets Mayoral Election 22 May 2014[6] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | 1st round votesTransfer votes, 2nd round | ||||
| Total | Of round | Transfers | Total | Of round | ||||
| Tower Hamlets First | Lutfur Rahman | 36,539 | 43.38% | 856 | 37,395 |
| ||
| Labour | John Biggs | 27,643 | 32.82% | 6,500 | 34,143 |
| ||
| Conservative | Christopher Wilford | 7,173 | 8.52% |
| ||||
| UKIP | Nicholas McQueen | 4,819 | 5.72% |
| ||||
| Green | Chris Smith | 4,699 | 5.58% |
| ||||
| Liberal Democrats | Reetendra Banerji | 1,959 | 2.33% |
| ||||
| TUSC | Hugo Pierre | 871 | 1.03% |
| ||||
| Independent | Reza Choudhury | 205 | 0.24% |
| ||||
| Independent | Mohammed Khan | 164 | 0.19% |
| ||||
| Independent | Hafiz Kadir | 162 | 0.19% |
| ||||
| Rejected ballots | 2,306 | |||||||
| Turnout | 84,234 | 47.58% | ||||||
| Tower Hamlets First hold | ||||||||
References
- ^ "Tower Hamlets Speaker of Council". Retrieved 10 November 2013.
- ^ a b c Gilligan, Andrew (17 October 2010). "Tower Hamlets extremist vote poses Ed Miliband's first big election test". Sunday Telegraph. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
- ^ "Ken Livingstone campaigning for non-Labour candidate". BBC News. 2010-10-18. Retrieved 2010-12-04.
- ^ a b "Mayoral election result, 21 October 2010". Tower Hamlets London Borough Council. October 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-12-14. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
- ^ "Council boss in charge until new Tower Hamlets mayor takes charge on Monday". East London Advertiser. 21 October 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-12-14. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
- ^ "Tower Hamlets Mayoral Election - Thursday, 22nd May, 2014". Tower Hamlets Council. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
