Labour retain Tottenham Hale seat in by-election

Easy win for Labour despite drop in vote share as Lib Dems gain ground, reports Olivia Opara

The Labour candidate has secured his seat as the new Tottenham Hale councillor with more than half of the votes cast.

Following yesterday’s by-election, Sean O’Donovan was elected as the new Labour councillor of Tottenham Hale ward, replacing Labour councillor Yannis Gourtsoyannis who stepped down earlier this year for personal reasons.

Cllr Donovan’s win ensured Haringey Labour retained its majority of 43 seats that the party gained in last year’s local election – the largest lead the party has achieved since 1998. Tottenham Hale has been a Labour stronghold since 1964, when the borough was created.

Labour won the by-election with 818 votes (58.7%), although the vote share was down by nearly ten percentage points compared with last year’s poll, largely thanks to gains made by the Liberal Democrats.

During his speech, Cllr Donovan said: “I would like to thank all the people of Tottenham Hale for voting for me – the 818 who put their trust in me. It is an honour that they voted for me and the Labour Party who voted for me to run in this election.

“I would also like to thank the other candidates who love Tottenham Hale. We will work together for a better Tottenham Hale.”

Council leader Peray Ahmet said: “It is absolutely wonderful to get to have endorsement to continue the work we are doing and to be able to create change.

“The whole process was run very smoothly and I would like to thank the teams who made it this way.”

Lib Dem candidate Allen Windsor came in second with 203 votes – increasing the party’s vote share from 8% to 14.6%. He said: “First of all, I think it was an absolute honour to reach such a vote as my first time running.

“I am very happy to have run – especially for the people of Tottenham Hale.”

Green Party candidate Emma Chan came in third with 192 votes (13.8%) and Conservative and Unionist Party candidate Angelos Tsangarides, came in fourth with 84 votes (5.8%).

Angelos, who stood in his first election aged just 18, said: ”First of all, I would like to thank everyone who put their trust in me and everyone who came out to campaign with me.

”We will continue to be better, build a better Tottenham Hale and bring change. I will be back.”

First-time independent candidate Miraf Ghebreawariat came in fifth with 64 votes (4.6%) and The Christian People’s Alliance candidate Amelia Allao came in sixth with 35 votes (2.5%).

Amelia, who also ran in last year’s local election, said: “I was happy about the result and it is my first time running and I am so happy that [those who voted for me] put their trust in me.

”Next time we will be better and show that we are passionate to better Tottenham Hale.”

The overall turnout for Tottenham Hale was 20% – a 7.15 percentage point drop from last year’s local election. However, some councillors and cabinet members expressed surprise as they expected this to be lower.

Tottenham Hale by-election result

Sean O’Donovan (Labour Party) 818
Allen Windsor (Liberal Democrats) 203
Emma Chan (Green Party) 192
Angelos Tsangarides (Conservative and Unionist Party) 81
Miraf Ghebreawariat (independent) 64
Amelia Allao (Christian Peoples Alliance) 35

Turnout: 1,400 (seven spoilt votes)

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