The drama at the London 2018 municipal elections saw a Greek Cypriot politician win through for a third term in a row as council leader.

Aradippou born Stephen Alambritis has been the leader of the council in the London Borough of Merton for eight years now following wins he has masterminded in 2010 and then again in 2014.

In the hotly contested local authority elections, Alambritis again led his Labour Party to victory with a majority in the South London municipality of Merton.

Councillor Alambritis topped the poll on his own ward of Ravensbury and saw spectacular wins for his side taking over the administration with 34 seats compared to the Conservatives 17.

Alambritis said, “I am really pleased with the results we have achieved. This is an endorsement from the residents for our businesslike approach and it is humbling and a pleasure to be asked to form another Labour administration in Merton.”

Alambritis is putting down the win to his administration’s efforts to give people hope in the borough in the face of Tory austerity. “We have built a brand new library over three floors and we are nearly at the end of the construction of a six lane swimming pool and leisure complex. The leisure centre comes with 100 stations in a state of the art fitness suite overlooking luxurious green space in one of our great parks.”

The first ever Greek Cypriot Council Leader also points to bringing back the local football team to their natural home in Wimbledon. “For some reason the Tories opposed the return of AFC Wimbledon to the borough. But we are now there and a brand new 20,000 seater stadium with over 700 flats is being built after planning permission was granted by Merton Council.”

Alambritis continued, “This famous fan owned club beat Liverpool to the FA Cup in the 1980’s and the club will be back at Plough Lane soon.”

Alambritis is passionate about education and points to the expansion of over twenty primary schools creating over 4,400 extra primary school places as another reason for satisfaction with his authority from residents. “We built well designed quality extensions to existing schools for pupils and now 93% of all our children in Merton attend Good or Outstanding schools.”

The authority is also first in the country for the progress children in secondary schools make. “Before we took over control in 2010, Merton was 104th in the country for progress among our children in our schools. We are now first in the country.”