London mayoral election should be postponed, says Electoral Commission
The 7 May mayor of London election should be postponed due to the spread of coronavirus, according to the Electoral Commission.
The electoral watchdog wrote to the government today to say all May polls should be postponed “to mitigate the impact on voters, campaigners and electoral administrators”.
This is in direct opposition to mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s comments today that the date of the mayoral election would not be changed.
It will now be up to the government to decide if the poll goes ahead as planned or not.
Boris Johnson said today he would not be cancelling large scale gatherings at this time, but left the door open to the possibility in the future.
The Electoral Commission tweeted: “We’ve written to the UK government to recommend that the May polls be postponed until the autumn as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
“This is due to growing risks to the delivery of the polls and to mitigate the impact on voters, campaigners and electoral administrators.”
It comes after two candidates today decided to effectively suspend their campaigns and move their operations entirely online.
Rory Stewart and Sian Berry announced they would be cancelling all campaigning events and would not be doing any more debates or door knocking for the time being.
Stewart has been a vocal critic in the past week of the government’s response, calling it “irresponsible” and advocating for closing all schools, banning public events and limiting public transport.
Reacting to the Electoral Commission’s announcement, Stewart said: “This is a sensible recommendation in the circumstances, and I welcome it.
“Ultimately the decision is in the government’s hands, so we await confirmation.”
Khan opposed Stewart’s suggestions and said they could in fact could make the spread of coronavirus worse.
Speaking to LBC today, he said: “You could inadvertently make matters worse by taking measures such as closing down schools. If you stop the Tubes and the buses running, people will take different steps.
“They may start driving in central London or start doing other things that will spread the virus. If you cancel sporting events and you go and watch it in the pub, you’re more likely if there’s someone with coronavirus in a pub to catch it then if there’s 70,000 people.”
The latest polling for the mayoral election has Khan well in front of his opponents and likely to win in a landslide.
The YouGov/Queen Mary poll said Khan would get 49 per cent of first preference votes and eventually win in the second round run-off, with Tory candidate Shaun Bailey in second place.