THE polls have officially closed on the first ever election to decide the Tower Hamlets Mayor.
Voters have been choosing their candidate since 7am today at the 119 polling booths across the borough.
Counting will now begin at York Hall in Bethnal Green, where a result is expected in the early hours of tomorrow 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.
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