With only days to go until London votes for its new Mayor, 24 Gold reporter Ann Scantlebury asks students whether they’ll be voting:
Today is the last day to send off postal votes in the race to elect London’s new mayor. All the candidates are campaigning hard as the competition goes into its final stages. While there are 11 contenders for the Mayoral title, those looking at it objectively see this as a two horse race. Conservative Boris Johnson is attempting to topple ‘Red Ken’ Livingstone, the current mayor. Bookmakers across the country have drawn up odds to reflect who they think will come out victorious.
Johnson favourite to win
Lawrence Foley, the Political Odds Compiler for online betting company IG Index, says the betting industry is currently backing Boris to win.
“When Boris originally announced he was going to run most bookmakers priced him up at about 2-1 and he’s now odds on, which is a big move. Ken’s been as short as 2-5, which is very short, as short as anybody’s been.”
As for other contenders, Liberal Democrat Brian Paddick is the only one that has ever been a serious threat, but he has always been an outsider with the bookies, even going as low as 25-1.
‘Ignored’ students not heading to polls
In an election that may go down to second votes, every cross of the box is important. With a large student community in London those votes may be all important. Speaking to young people studying at Goldsmiths University, New Cross, there was no feeling that the candidates had done anything to make them want to vote. One student commented that he didn’t “know if they really reach out to students that much,” an opinion apparently shared with the politically diverse students in London.
Whatever your political persuasion, your vote is important. If you don’t vote, the next time you complain about London Transport you’ll only have yourself to blame.
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