London elects its first Muslim mayor, the son of a bus driver from Pakistan

Reporting from London —  Sadiq Khan made history in London on Friday by becoming the first Muslim mayor of a major Western capital city.

The 45-year-old son of a bus driver from Pakistan, the Labor candidate fended off competition from his main rival, Zac Goldsmith, the son of a billionaire businessman.

“I want every single Londoner to get the opportunity the city gave to me and my family, the opportunity not just to survive but to thrive,” Khan said in his acceptance speech. “The opportunity to build a better future for you and your family.”

Khan, a human rights lawyer turned politician, was the favorite heading into Thursday’s vote. He won with 57% to Goldsmith’s 43%.

The victory ends eight years of Conservative rule in the city. Khan will succeed Boris Johnson, the flamboyant, sometimes bumbling Conservative member of Parliament who is leading the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union.

The polls closed at 10 p.m. Thursday, but the results were not announced until after midnight. Election organizers said the results were delayed because of “small discrepancies” with the mayoral figures that had to be checked.

The mayoral campaign was one of the most bitter in recent memory.

Goldsmith has been accused of running a divisive and racist campaign for referring to Khan with such labels as “radical” and “dangerous,” which were as code for his religion.

It was a tactic that ultimately appears to have alienated voters in one of the world’s most multicultural cities.

Khan did not mention his main opponent by name during his victory speech but pointedly said he was glad London had chosen “hope over fear” and “unity over division.”

Goldsmith’s sister, Gemima, a journalist who was married to Pakistani politician and former cricketer Imran Khan, congratulated the new mayor, describing him as a “great example to young Muslims.”

She also lamented her brother’s defeat and the criticism his campaign had received.

“Sad that Zac’s campaign did not reflect who I know him to be--an eco-friendly, independent-minded politician with integrity,” she wrote on Twitter.

Even before the results were official, congratulations started to pour in, including a tweet from New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.

“Sending congratulations to London’s new mayor and fellow affordable housing advocate, @SadiqKhan,” he wrote.

Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn also congratulated Khan on social media even though the incoming mayor has distanced himself from Corbyn’s hard-line leftist views, which some see as being divisive.

Aside from London mayor, elections also took place Thursday in 124 councils in England, the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly of Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Corbyn’s party suffered a bad defeat in the Scottish Parliament, previously a Labor stronghold.

It was pushed into third place by the Conservatives who became the main opposition party to the Scottish National Party, which secured 63 of the 129 seats, just two short of an outright majority.

“There is a lot of building to do in Scotland,” Corbyn said, adding that elsewhere in the country Labor “hung on.”

Although Labor avoided the big losses that had been predicted, it did not win vast swaths of council seats, a necessity if the party is to become a serious contender to defeat the Conservative Party at the next general election.

Boyle is a special correspondent.