Despite the flaws in the petition, there were sufficient valid signatures for the council to accept it, and a referendum was held on 6 May 2010 simultaneously with the voting in the United Kingdom general election.

The latter, along with local business interests which had supported the petition and referendum to have a mayor, prominently backed Rahman's campaign.

Andy Erlam is a writer and film-maker who led the legal action against Rahman which resulted in the previous election being declared void.

[19] Red Flag Anti-Corruption had also fielded two parliamentary candidates in the 2015 UK general election,[20] Jason Pavlou for Bethnal Green and Bow and Rene Claudel Mugenzi for Poplar and Limehouse, both within Tower Hamlets.

Liberal Democrat Elaine Bagshaw and UKIP candidate Nicholas McQueen both stood for their respective parties in Poplar and Limehouse at the 2015 general election.

[30][31] He was endorsed at his formal campaign launch in March by the former mayor of London Ken Livingstone and the peer Pola Uddin.

[32] Rahman won the election with a final vote share of 54.9%, unseating incumbent John Biggs and taking the mayoralty for the second time.