Counting up the votes at May's General Election in the East End

EARLY estimates suggest around a quarter of eligible voters have turned out for the Tower Hamlets Mayoral election.

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Counting has been underway for around 40 minutes, with postal votes opened at 10pm and the first ballot boxes arriving around 10.15pm.

The council has confirmed that the election has cost £180,000 to stage, meaning around £4.11 has been spent on every voter that has taken part.

Approximately 24,000 people have opted to vote today by post and the council stressed it is “doing everything within our legal powers” to ensure the integrity of the voting system.

A result is expected in the early hours of Friday morning.

The race to win control of Tower Hamlets Council and its estimated £1 billion budget has been closely fought and controversial, with Labour choosing Lutfur Rahman as their candidate only to ditch him days later for Helal Abbas.

With Rahman standing as an independent, the Conservative candidate Neil King stood to gain if the Labour vote was split, with the Liberal Democrats and Greens also hopeful of faring better in the East End here than they did during the General Election.