Sadiq Khan officially declares victory as London's first Muslim mayor

LONDON — The Labour Party's Sadiq Khan won the election Friday, becoming London's first Muslim mayor.

Khan received 44.2% of first preference votes to Conservative Party candidate Zac Goldsmith's 35.6%. Second preference votes are now  counted with Khan passing the crucial 50% mark to secure victory, according to the BBC.

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Khan, 45, is the son of a bus driver from Pakistan.  Khan was the bookmakers' favorite to succeed flamboyant American-born Mayor Boris Johnson.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and other politicians congratulated Khan on Twitter.

Goldsmith, whose father was a billionaire financier, has been accused of running a negative campaign against Khan after he and Prime Minister David Cameron accused Khan of sharing a platform with people with extremist views. Khan has said he never hid the fact that he dealt with “some pretty unsavory characters" during his work as a human rights lawyer and during three years as the chairman of the human rights organization Liberty.

"This result should inspire young Muslims in Britain to pursue a career in politics and public life," said Faith Matters, a non-governmental organization that promotes interfaith, in a statement. "Khan’s comfort with his own multiple identities speaks to the diversity of the city that he will now serve."

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Andrew Boff, a Conservative Party leader in London, criticized Goldsmith’s tactics earlier Friday and said his actions may have damaged the party’s relations with Muslims.

“I was really troubled by one particular aspect (of Goldsmith's campaign) and that’s when he started equating people with conservative religious views with sympathizing with terrorism. That sent a message out to many of the communities in London that’s very difficult to justify,” Boff, who competed with Goldsmith for the mayoral nomination, told the BBC.

In other voting, the Scottish National Party that backs full independence for Scotland won parliamentary elections for a third time in a row and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon called the outcome "historic." But the party failed to secure enough seats to form a majority government. A revitalized Conservative Party overtook the left-leaning Labour Party for second place north of the border.

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The nationwide vote was considered a major test for Corbyn, who took the opposition job eight months ago and has shifted the party further to the left. He has struggled recently to contain allegations that some Labour politicians hold anti-Semitic views.

Labour’s losses in England were not as great as expected and the party remained the largest in Wales, but fell short of a majority.

Britain will vote on whether to leave the European Union on June 23.