Voters in aspire tower hamlets had their say in the 2026 local elections, with all 45 seats on Tower Hamlets London Borough Council up for grabs and the borough mayoral post on the ballot. Polls closed at 10pm on Thursday, May 7, and the count took place on Saturday, with results due from 6pm.
The vote covered every ward in the borough, where councillors are elected in groups of two or three. Before polling day, Apsire held 22 seats on the council, putting control of the chamber and the mayoralty back in front of voters at the same time.
Tower Hamlets wards on the ballot
Seats on Tower Hamlets London Borough Council were contested in Bethnal Green East, Bethnal Green West, Blackwall and Cubitt Town, Bow East, Bow West, Bromley North, Bromley South, Canary Wharf, Island Gardens, Lansbury, Limehouse, Mile End, Millwall, Poplar, Shadwell, Spitalfields and Banglatown, St Dunstan's, St Katharine's and Wapping, Stepney Green, Weavers, and Whitechapel.
That meant the election touched each part of the borough at once, not just one pocket of it. In a single count, voters were choosing representatives across every ward while also deciding who would lead the council as mayor.
London boroughs in 2026
Tower Hamlets was part of a wider set of local elections across England, where more than 5,000 council seats were up for grabs across 136 local authorities. Councillors were elected in all 32 London boroughs, with 1,817 seats on the line, and mayoral elections also took place in six areas.
For Tower Hamlets residents, the immediate effect was straightforward: the composition of the council and the identity of the mayor were being reset by the same ballot. The result would determine how the borough is run across all 45 seats, not just in one ward or one office.
Saturday count in Tower Hamlets
The count took place on Saturday, after polls closed at 10pm on Thursday, May 7. Results for the Tower Hamlets local elections were due from 6pm on Saturday, giving residents a clear point in the day when the borough’s full set of council and mayoral outcomes began to land.
That schedule mattered for voters because the mayoral race and the council seats were decided together. Anyone following the count could read the result as a single picture of who now holds power across the borough, from the chamber’s overall balance to the mayor’s office.
