Londoners voting
for a mayor on Thursday chose among a gaffe-prone former
journalist, a gay ex-policeman, and a left-wing incumbent,
while balloting for local councils around the country
could gauge Prime Minister Gordon Brown's chances of
winning the next general election.
Mayoral
candidates in London have dominated the election spotlight,
and whoever wins will oversee the 2012 Olympics and a
yearly budget in the billions. But the overall
municipal vote in England and Wales will be watched
for its implications for Brown's chances in a future
national poll.
As Tony Blair's
Treasury chief for more than a decade, Brown was credited
with overseeing Britain's longest stretch of postwar
prosperity.
He took over from
Blair last year as Labour leader -- becoming prime
minister without an election. But the honeymoon has ended.
The discontent is tied to falling house prices across
Britain and fallout from the government's decision to
nationalize mortgage lender Northern Rock, another
victim of the global credit crisis.
The Labour
Party's poll ratings have sunk to a 20-year low, and
although a national election is not expected until
2009 or 2010, the local elections will be seen as a
verdict on voter attitudes toward the party.
If Brown's party
does badly, his critics could raise questions about
whether he has the necessary charisma and stamina to fend
off challengers in the next national election.
The opposition
Conservatives are riding high in the polls under new
leader David Cameron, and winning the London mayor's race
would give the Tories their most prominent elected
office since they were defeated in the 1997 national
election.
Some 4,102 local
council seats are to be filled, including all the local
councils in Wales and some councils in England. Polls close
at 10 p.m., and counting in the London race begins
Friday. Results are not expected until late Friday or
Saturday.
The most fiercely
fought battle is that for London mayor where polls have
consistently shown Conservative challenger Boris Johnson
slightly ahead of Labour's Ken Livingstone, known for
his campaign against vehicle pollution and traffic.
The winner of the
mayoral race will oversee an annual budget of $22
billion, and will work to make sure the 2012 Olympics will
be a success.
Johnson, an
eccentric former journalist with a disheveled mop of
platinum-blond hair, wants more police on the street and
says he wants to protect the city's shrinking green
spaces.
Livingstone, who
has befriended Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and waged a war
with the U.S. Embassy over unpaid congestion charges meant
to tackle the city's traffic and pollution, wants
higher levies on gas-guzzling vehicles and a
low-emission zone to be created around the city to target
the worst-polluting trucks.
Brian Paddick, a
gay former London police officer running for the Liberal
Democrats, has promised to cut crime in the city by 5% a
year and vows to improve the city's sluggish and
expensive public transport system. (David
Stringer, AP)
