Labour’s Rubina Siddiqui wins Barking and Dagenham by election after Glenda Paddle’s death. Low voter turnout.
Rubina Siddiqui is the new councillor. She’s with Labour party and won 625 votes. That’s about 54.92 percent of all votes cast. Andrew Achilleos and Mukhtar Yusuf also represent Whalebone.
Angelica Olawepo got second place. She is a Conservative party member, earning 287 votes. Tope Olawoyin from the Green Party came in third. They received 117 votes during the election.
Herbert Munangatire was next, from the Lib Dems. He got 109 votes altogether in the ward. Over 9,000 people could have voted. Only about 12 percent actually did vote.
The election happened because Glenda Paddle died. She was a councillor for Whalebone. Glenda had been a councillor since 2018. She led the Scrutiny Committee since 2022.
Councillors said Glenda was very selfless. It was at a council meeting in November 2024. Dominic Twomey said her death shocked everyone. He said she left a big void in the council. Twomey also talked about Glenda’s work.
She volunteered a lot in the community. She supported schools and union workers. She helped people who needed a voice. Right now, the council has 50 Labour members. There is also one Independent councillor serving.