LONDON, May 7 (Xinhua) -- British Labour Party politician Sadiq Khan has been elected mayor of London, becoming the first Muslim mayor of the capital city, according to official polling results announced early Saturday.

Khan, 45, beat his major rival, Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith, in the mayoral elections held Thursday and became the capital city's third directly elected mayor, after Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson.

Congratulating on Khan's victory, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Twitter that he couldn't wait to work with Khan to create a London that is fair for all.

Khan's parents migrated to England in the 1960s from Pakistan shortly before he was born. Having studied law at the University of North London, Khan was a human rights lawyer before entering politics.

The London-born politician has been a member of parliament since 2005 for the London constituency of Tooting.

As minister of state for transport in the Labour government from 2009 to 2010, he was the first Muslim to attend the Cabinet, headed by then Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Khan also served as the Labour Party's shadow transport and justice secretaries between 2010 and 2015.

The post of mayor of London was created following the Greater London Authority referendum held in 1998. Ken Livingstone, who ran as an independent candidate, was elected the city's first mayor in 2000. He was defeated in the mayoral elections in 2008 by Conservative politician Boris Johnson, who ruled the city till May 2016.

London has a population of 8.6 million, more than 1 million of them Muslim.

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