Labour’s Andrew Dismore has been re-elected to represent Barnet and Camden on the Greater London Assembly.
He won with 44 per cent of the vote (81,482); Tory candidate Daniel Thomas came second with 36 per cent (65,204).
Greens' Stephen Taylor came in third place with 16,996 votes, Liberal Democrats' Zac Polanski received 11,204 votes while Andrew Langton, for Ukip, came in final place with 9,057 votes.
Mr Dismore, who served as Hendon MP for 13 years before losing the seat at the 2010 general election to Conservative Matthew Offord, pledged to combat antisemitism in the Labour party.
He said: "I am very grateful to the voters of Barnet and Camden, and especially my Jewish constituents, who stood by me, despite the antisemitism issue. I'll stand by you in the future as I have in the past, and will redouble my efforts against antisemitism in the party."
However, local voters took to social media to question the result after hundreds of people in Barnet were turned away from all 155 polling stations across the borough on Thursday morning.
Voters – including UK Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and his wife, Valerie – were unable to cast their votes for London mayor and the Greater London Assembly due to administrative errors.
While some voters returned to polling stations later in the day once administrative errors had been resolved, others lost their vote due to other commitments. A source close to Chief Rabbi Mirvis said he was “disappointed” that he had been unable to vote. A pre-arranged flight to Holland to visit the Jewish community there meant he had no time to return to the polling station.
Others told the JC they were unable to leave work before the polling stations closed at 10pm on Thursday.
Today, a spokeswoman for Barnet Council confirmed that a “thorough investigation” would be launched.
Asked how many Barnet residents actually returned to the polling stations or voted by emergency proxy, the spokeswoman said: “We cannot comment any further on the impact.”
She added: “We will begin a thorough investigation into the cause of the problems once results are declared.”
Ken Livingstone – the former London Mayor – was repeatedly blamed by Labour MPs and councillors for costing the party votes in areas with a high Jewish population across England and Scotland, including Barnet, Prestwich in Manchester and Glasgow’s Eastwood.
During a series of media interviews throughout the day Friday, Ken Livingstone – who was suspended from the Labour party last week after he claimed Hitler was a “Zionist” - repeatedly defended his comments.
He accused the media and “Blairite” Labour MPs of deliberately distorting his comments. He refused to apologise for his comments – telling BBC Two: “You can’t expect someone to apologise for stating the truth.”
