Caroline Woodley has been elected the new Mayor of Hackney borough in East London in the emerging elections that took place a few days ago.
After the resignation of fellow Labour MP Philip Glanville, due to the Eurovision photo party scandal which burst out in September, a by-election process was triggered almost immediately. Glanville appeared to be in a photo alongside former councillor Tom Dewey, on the same day the latter reportedly was arrested. Dewey has been convicted of possessing indecent children’s images and as a result, an investigation has opened in both the former councillors.
Hackney Council announced through its X account that the election turnout was 20.69% of the 180,205 electorate. A total of 37,289 ballot papers were cast of which 15,731 were postal votes.
Woodley secured 18,474 votes, which is almost the double amount compared to her nearest competitor Zoe Garbett of the Greens who received 9,075 votes and Simche Steinberger of the Conservatives who received only 5,039 votes.
She was the odds-on favourite to win the electoral race, with most of the people congratulating her on the social media platforms about her imminent win.
However, there were also some comments mentioning that the small-scale voting attendance led to a not-so-unbiased result.
In her own words, after the process was completed, Woodley said “I would never imagine that I would be the first woman to serve as the elected Mayor of Hackney. I will lead our borough to be a place where you can be who you are- proudly anti-racist, inclusive, welcoming, kind and open”.
With more than two years of experience under her belt as a Cabinet member in Hackney Council, she represented Cazenove ward, and her current sector was Leisure, Families and Green spaces. During her time in the council, she managed to oversee transformation projects in Abney, Shoreditch and Springfield parks and the renovation of seven children’s play areas. Also, she created school places for children with special education needs and disabilities.
Her future mayoral commitments include fighting the ongoing housing crisis and the reformation of green spaces in order to make the borough environmentally friendly.
The full election results are: