London Mayoral Election 2012

[Meeker]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/england/london/10201412.stm

Livingstone has jumped in for another go. Former MP Oona King, who lost her seat to George Galloway in 2005, is the only other declared Labour candidate right now.

[You kip if you want to...]

I think that this'll be an interesting race. Labour have the advantage of opposition, like the Tories did in '08 and who knows what state the ConDems could be in come May 2012.

[JoeBrayson]

Full list of declared Labour Party candidates
Seton During (Party Activist, Former Enfield councillor & Chartered Engineer).
Oona King
Ken Livingstone
Emmanuel Okoro (Party Activist & Artist).

Basically its a two horse race between King and Livingstone. More info:-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/10343953.stm

[State Comptroller Atkins]

UNITE has endorsed Ken Livingstone. Lembit Opik has said that he will seek the Liberal Democrats' nomination.

Is there anyone who actually thinks that the London Mayoral Election is a non-joke?

[You kip if you want to...]

UNITE has endorsed Ken Livingstone. Lemit Opik has said that he will seek the Liberal Democrats' nomination.

Is there anyone who actually thinks that the London Mayoral Election is a non-joke?

Lembit and Boris? Oh, this'll be good.

[Sibboleth]

Opik doesn't get it, does he. Can anyone think of a worse case of political tin-ear?

[dialectical fetishist]

The London mayoral election is much like a caricature of both parties really.

That said, Livingstone to win

[Kuu ülevaade olulisematest]

Lembit Opik has said that he will seek the Liberal Democrats' nomination.

Doesn't he live in Wales?

[afleitch]

If I was a London, I would probably vote Oona King over Boris Johnson. But Labour will never pick her. They need to keep Ken's belly rubbed...and theres a lot of interest groups begging to get back into favour...

[Sibboleth]

King would struggle anyway; she doesn't seem to have much in the way of institutional support (yes, she has a lot of MPs onside, but they play no role in selecting candidates at any level). I mean, stranger things have happened, but an upset looks unlikely. Livingstone is also likely to be elected to the NEC.

[JoeBrayson]

If by some miracle King does win the nomination, then Livingstone would stand as an Independent again as in 2000. This time though Mayor Johnson would be re-elected easily with King and Livingstone fighting it out for 2nd place. Although the governing party traditionally does poorly in local elections, the Tories would be saved due to the rupture in the Labour party due to Livingstone going rogue. As for the LibDem selection, there's no way Opik will be selected. IMHO the LibDems would select somebody local such as Simon Hughes MP or Lynne Featherstone MP.

[You kip if you want to...]

If by some miracle King does win the nomination, then Livingstone would stand as an Independent again as in 2000. This time though Mayor Johnson would be re-elected easily with King and Livingstone fighting it out for 2nd place. Although the governing party traditionally does poorly in local elections, the Tories would be saved due to the rupture in the Labour party due to Livingstone going rogue.

Is that really a problem with the preference system though?

[Kuu ülevaade olulisematest]

If by some miracle King does win the nomination, then Livingstone would stand as an Independent again as in 2000. This time though Mayor Johnson would be re-elected easily with King and Livingstone fighting it out for 2nd place. Although the governing party traditionally does poorly in local elections, the Tories would be saved due to the rupture in the Labour party due to Livingstone going rogue.

Is that really a problem with the preference system though?

Yes, because of the fake IRV. If someone were to vote, say for the Green candidate and then for King, their vote wouldn't count in the event of a Johnson–Livingstone runoff.

[Sibboleth]

It's also entirely possible that both camps would refuse to work with each other; and in order for any transfer system (and especially this sick joke) that's sort-of needed.

[Sibboleth]

[Sibboleth]

Idris Elba, the actor who played Stringer Bell in The Wire, has endorsed King as has the historian and ubiquitous TV personality Simon Schama.

[Sibboleth]

Livingstone 68.6
King 31.4

---breakdown by section---

Membership: L 32.97, K 17.03
Affiliates: L 35.634, K 14.366

Ken Livingstone is Labour's candidate for London Mayor.

[afleitch]

Thats Boris' chances of re-election shot up then.

[State Comptroller Atkins]

Thats Boris' chances of re-election shot up then.

Not really.

[doktorb]

Yes, really

[State Comptroller Atkins]

It was pretty clear that Ken was going to get the candidacy anyway. Why would confirmation of this "shoot up" Boris's chances?

[Vasall des Midas]

There's a reason she lost to Galloway, you know. The woman is fairly unelectable.

[London Man]

There's a reason she lost to Galloway, you know. The woman is fairly unelectable.

It was only a narrow defeat in fairly unique circumstances.

There's also a reason Ken lost to Boris in 2008; the Labour assembly vote only dropped 2%.

Time to hold my nose and vote for him yet again.

[Sibboleth]

It's ages away yet, but we have our first YouGov poll already: Johnson 46, Livingstone 44, Unknown LibDem 4.

[State Comptroller Atkins]

The 'Others' outpolling the Lib Dems = LOL.