Ballot papers sorted for electronic counting. Photo: London Elects

Electronic counting for the Mayoral and Greater London Assembly elections takes place today and despite the Tories taking a battering across the country, a YouGov poll suggests the current Mayor Boris Johnson can hope to be re-elected.

The poll for the Evening Standard “reveals he has increased his lead to six points and is on course to deliver a 53-47 per cent win.”

The Labour Party may be concerned by analysis of voting intentions that showed two in 10 Labour voters intended to reject their party’s candidate Ken Livingstone and half planned to switch to Boris.

However, this swing may not be reflected in voting for the Greater London Assembly candidates as voters had three separate votes for Mayor, constituency and London wide party list. The Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition parties have been losing hundreds of seats in elections outside London.

London Elects reports that they had a provisional figure of the London electorate  as of April 30 at 5,808,555. But the weather was poor on polling day with rain and low temperatures across Lewisham, Tower Hamlets, Croydon and Hackney. Traditionally fewer people vote in local authority elections and the weather is often a determining factor.

The polling stations in the East London Boroughs officially closed at 10.05 pm last night and the electronic voting begins this morning at 8.45 am with the results expected to be declared around 12 hours later.

Counting takes place in three locations across London – ExCeL, Olympia, and Alexandra Palace.

The 14 Constituency London Assembly Members will be announced by the relevant Constituency Returning Officers. This will take place in the count centre. The declaration of the 11 London-wide Assembly Members and the Mayor of London is made by the Greater London Returning Officer (GLRO) and will take place at City Hall once all of the votes have been counted.

 London Decides- Mayoral and Assembly election