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Scottish Nationalists Win but Lose Ground on UK's 'Super Thursday'

Scottish nationalists won a third term in power but lost their outright majority Friday in one of a series of local and regional elections seen as a key test for Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn.

The main opposition Labor Party came third in the vote for Scotland's devolved parliament but its candidate Sadiq Khan is expected to clinch victory in London to become the city's first Muslim mayor.

Deputy leader Tom Watson told BBC radio the results were a "mixed picture" for Labor, whose socialist leader Corbyn has come under pressure after a scandal over alleged anti-Semitism among some party members.

"We certainly have to make progress in Scotland before the next general election," Watson said.

Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) claimed the result as a major victory as her party seeks a mandate to move towards a second independence referendum.

"What is now beyond doubt is that the SNP has won a third consecutive Scottish Parliament election." Sturgeon said. "We have tonight made history."

However, the 63 seats out of 129 won by the SNP fell short of polling ahead of the election which had suggested it would retain its majority.

The party, which previously had 69 seats, will now have to seek the support of a smaller party like the Greens to govern.

The result of London's mayoral election is expected later Friday, with Khan tipped to secure an easy victory over Conservative Zac Goldsmith.

Early returns put Khan well ahead of Goldsmith in first preference votes.

The often dirty race to replace Conservative Boris Johnson has pitched two very different candidates against each other -- Khan, the Muslim son of a bus driver and a seamstress, against Goldsmith, multimillionaire son of a financier.

In England, Labor suffered losses in local council elections, though they were not as heavy as predicted, damping down talk of a possible leadership challenge to Corbyn.

With results from 80 councils in, Labor had 41, down one, and 780 seats, down 26.

Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives had control of an unchanged 20 councils and 475 seats, up eight.

- Divisive campaign -

The voting day dubbed "Super Thursday" came after a bitter few weeks of political sniping between the Conservatives and Labor.

Corbyn set up an inquiry into anti-Semitism and racism in Labor after former London mayor Ken Livingstone was suspended from the party for claiming Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler supported Zionism.

Several other Labor politicians were also suspended.

Cameron himself is also grappling with deep splits in his party ahead of the June 23 referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union.

Some counts were expected to stretch into the weekend as 45 million eligible voters were asked to cast their ballots in contests across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The mayoral campaign has been especially ugly, with Khan forced to deny support for Islamic extremists and Goldsmith rejecting claims of playing on voters' religious prejudices.

Khan has dismissed attempts to link him with Islamic extremists as "desperate stuff", but Cameron repeated the claims in angry clashes with Corbyn in parliament on Wednesday.

- Revenge of the Scottish Conservatives -

Aside from the SNP's win, the other big story in Scotland was the success of the Scottish Conservatives, who came second with 31 seats.

The party has been deeply unpopular in Scotland since the 1980s premiership of Margaret Thatcher but its fortunes have turned around under current leader Ruth Davidson.

Davidson is a charismatic and openly gay 37-year old whose cheery, no-nonsense style and proficient use of social media has fueled her party's success.

The decline of Labor -- Scotland's dominant party until recently but which slumped to third with 24 seats -- has also helped.

Sturgeon has said June's referendum on Britain's EU membership could fuel calls for another independence vote if Britain as a whole elects to leave the EU but Scotland votes to stay in.

Scotland rejected independence at a referendum in 2014.

The Scottish Parliament has devolved powers from Westminster over most areas of domestic policy including health and education.

Source: Agence France Presse


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