Labour candidate Sadiq Khan won a second term as London Mayor over the weekend.
Running against Conservative candidate and main rival, Shaun Bailey, the results were closer than Labour had expected. Although Khan won 55.2% of the popular vote, he did so only after entering a run-off with Bailey since both candidates failed to secure a majority in the first round of voting. Bailey won 44.8% of the first and second-round votes, increasing the Conservative vote share by 1.6%.
In fifth place, however, was runaway star and tongue-in-cheek candidate Niko Omilana who managed to net 49,638 votes, making him the highest-placed independent candidate, beating out other popular independents Piers Corbyn, Laurence Fox and Count Binface. Although Omilana also lost his deposit, securing just 2% of the vote, it was an impressive feat for the YouTuber.
Announcing his candidacy on Twitter, Omilana wrote: “I’m Niko Omilana, founding father and supreme leader of the Niko Defence League and I am running for Mayor of London.
“As you can see, I’m taking this extremely seriously, everything up and to this moment has been a warm up, a light jog, a walk in the park but now we’re about to take over the nation’s biggest city.
“There is no greater leader in this country than me so please my friends, vote Niko for Mayor of London or your breath stinks.”
As tongue-in-cheek as Niko’s campaign was, he actually had some pretty sensible policies and clearly a lot of voters agreed. Next to promises to “shush” Boris Johnson and removing the teeth of racists, Niko also promised free school meals, free public transport for under 18s and over 69s, and raising minimum wage by 6.9%.
Also running in the election was Green Party candidate Sian Berry who came in third, while the Liberal Democrats’ Luisa Porritt was fourth. Because the Lib Dems failed to pass the 5% threshold, the party lost the deposit they put down to field a candidate.
