Mayor Election 2016 / News
Marvin Rees elected as new mayor of Bristol
Marvin Rees is the new mayor of Bristol after he defeated George Ferguson at the second attempt.
The Labour candidate, who lost to Ferguson in 2012, bounced back to record a comfortable victory in an election where the turnout almost doubled to 45 per cent.
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Rees took 40.4 per cent (56,729) of the first preference votes ahead of Ferguson’s 23.1 per cent (32,375). But it was not enough to prevent a run-off which resulted in an outright win for Rees by almost 30,000 votes.
Among the main party candidates, Conservative Charles Lucas was third, the Green Party’s Tony Dyer fourth, Lib Dem Kay Barnard fifth, followed by Ukip’s Paul Turner in sixth.
First preference votes:
Final results with first and second preferences counted:
On Saturday afternoon, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was due to address a victory rally on College Green. Rees will take office on Monday when he will be officially sworn in at a ceremony at the M Shed.
Taking to the stage after the final results were declared, Rees thanked his campaign team and paid tribute to his mum, his family and his supporters. He said he wants to make Bristol inclusive and give every child in Bristol the chance to do what he has done.
He added: “I want to commit to making sure my story is possible to all young people in Bristol and Bristol is a city in which no one is left behind.”
Ferguson thanked Rees for “giving me my life back”. He added, amid heckles from a small portion of the crowd including his mayoral rival Paul Saville: “The lesson in life is if you want to be liked, don’t stand for office, don’t do anything, don’t say anything, don’t be anything. But Marvin, I’m sure you can put up with it.”
Read more: Who is mayor Marvin?