Johnson leads closer than expected London Mayor battle after first round vote - The Independent

Johnson, the incumbent, has retained his lead throughout the day according to the London Elects' website which is recording the votes as they are counted.

The result is widely expected to be a win for Boris Johnson, but tonight the London Elects' website seemed to indicate a much closer result than many expected.

Ken Livingstone, the Labour candidate and former mayor, appears to be narrowly trailing Johnson in second place.

None of the candidates are expected to reach the 50% required for an outright first round win under the Supplementary Vote system, meaning a second round between the top two candidates will decide the outcome.

In the next round second preference votes will be reallocated to the top two candidates.

Jenny Jones, the Green Party candidate is currently in third - Brian Paddick, the former Deputy Assistant Commissioner of Metropolitan police and Liberal Democrat candidate, is in fourth followed by Independent candidate Siobhan Benita.

Lawrence James Webb, the Fresh Choice for London candidate and Carlos Cortiglia of the British National Party are in sixth and seventh respectively.

According to the London Elects' website Labour are leading the race for London Assembly seats from the Conservatives in second place and the Green Party in third.

An eve-of-election poll by YouGov for the Evening Standard yesterday indicated that Johnson was six percentage points ahead of Livingstone and projected a win of 53% to 47% for the Conservative candidate.

The poll suggested that one in ten Labour voters could choose Boris Johnson over their own party candidate.

The result of the hotly anticipated and fiercely fought campaign to be mayor is expected after 2000 BST this evening after counting was delayed by a power cut at Alexandra Palace.

Alexandra Palace is handling ballots cast in Enfield, Haringey, Barnet and Camden; Brent and Harrow; and North East London.

The count was due to begin at 8am this morning at the Haringey venue, however a power cut from 7.58am to 8.08am led to the counting machines needing to be restarted.

The resulting delays led to the count starting an hour later than expected.

A London Elects spokesman told the BBC, "It delayed the start of the count, but we don't think it's disrupted the progress of the count too much."

He added: "The cause of the power outage is being investigated. There have been no issues at any of the other sites."