2016 London mayoral election

2016 London mayoral election

← 2012 5 May 2016 2021 →
Turnout	45.3% 7.2 pp
Candidate Sadiq Khan Zac Goldsmith Siân Berry Party Labour Conservative Green First Round 1,148,716 909,755 150,673 Percentage 44.2% 35.0% 5.8% Swing 3.9pp 9.0pp 1.3pp Second Round 1,310,143 994,614 Eliminated Percentage 56.8% 43.2% Eliminated Swing 8.4pp 8.4pp
Results of the election by borough, displaying first preferences. Darker shades indicate a stronger voteshare, while lighter shades indicate a weaker voteshare
Mayor before election Boris Johnson Conservative Elected Mayor Sadiq Khan Labour

The 2016 London mayoral election was held on 5 May 2016 to elect the Mayor of London, on the same day as the London Assembly election. It was the fifth election to the position of mayor, which was created in 2000 following a referendum in Greater London. The election used a supplementary vote system.

The election was won by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting, Sadiq Khan, a member of the Labour Party, who polled 56.8% of the votes in the head-to-head second round of voting over the MP for Richmond Park, Zac Goldsmith, a member of the Conservative Party. Goldsmith was more than 25% ahead of the next candidate in the first round of voting, as part of a record field of twelve candidates. Of the twelve candidates only Khan, Goldsmith, and Green Party candidate Siân Berry achieved the requisite 5% minimum first round vote share to retain their deposit.^[1]

This was the first election to not feature either of the two previous holders of the office, Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson, who had run against each other in 2008 and 2012. Johnson, as incumbent mayor, had chosen not to stand for re-election for a third term in office, having been elected as the Conservative Party MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip at the 2015 general election. The campaign was dominated by the personal battle between Goldsmith and Khan, and their contrasting class and ethnic backgrounds.^[2] Through his victory, Khan became the second Labour Party mayor of London after Livingstone, and the first Muslim mayor of a European Union capital city.^[3]

The campaign of Goldsmith was marred by accusations of Islamophobia. Senior Muslim figures within the Conservative Party supported the accusations while the Muslim Council of Britain described Goldsmith's campaign as an example of Tory "dog whistle anti-Muslim racism" and called the party to investigate Goldsmith as part of an investigation into alleged Islamophobia in the Conservative party.^[4]