Labour Party candidate Sadiq Khan was re-elected as Mayor of London on Saturday after beating Conservative rival Shaun Bailey in a close contest. Khan, son of a Pakistani immigrant bus driver, won 55.2% of the popular vote but only after entering a run-off with Bailey as neither of them managed to get a majority in the first round of voting.
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While Sadiq Khan, the first Muslim mayor of England’s capital, was seen as the favourite throughout the campaign, the highlight of the day was a British YouTube prankster who received nearly 50,000 votes. Niko Omilana, best known for comedy videos and pranks on YouTube, secured 2% of the total votes polled, pushing actor Laurence Fox to sixth place.
Omilana, a self-proclaimed Supreme Leader of the Niko Defence League (NDL), had released a manifesto in which he promised that the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be “forced to shush”. The manifesto included pledges to employ more policemen for parliament “where all the real criminals are” and ban Prince Andrew, who came under scrutiny for his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, from going “within 4 mile radius of any school”.
“Anyone who clapped for the NHS but still voted Conservative will be forced to participate in an annual purge,” the manifesto posted on Omilana’s Twitter account reads. Niko Omilana’s manifesto post has been retweeted more than 14,000 times so far.
{{/usCountry}}“Anyone who clapped for the NHS but still voted Conservative will be forced to participate in an annual purge,” the manifesto posted on Omilana’s Twitter account reads. Niko Omilana’s manifesto post has been retweeted more than 14,000 times so far.
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The 23-year-old prankster received 49,628 votes in the first round, more than what over a dozen of mayoral candidates secured. After the final results were declared, Omilana said that other candidates put millions into their campaigns but the NDL beat them just with “vibes”, something he had repeatedly claimed to bring to London as a mayor.
London has more than six million registered voters for the mayoral election that normally takes place every four years. The recently-concluded election was originally scheduled for May 2020 but was postponed due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. The voting took place on May 6, 2021, as the nation witnessed a decline in Covid-19 cases following an aggressive vaccination drive.