A controversial Green Party candidate has narrowly won a London council by-election despite backlash over previous posts on social media.
Ahead of standing in the Crofton Park ward in Lewisham on Thursday, Esther Lie apologised for referring to Indian men having “rapey grins” in a now-deleted tweet.
She won the seat with 1,340 votes - ten more than Labour’s Alex Brooks, who came in second.
The Green’s vote share in the ward dropped 7.5 points, while Labour’s increased 13.9 points.
In a post from 2013, Ms Lie had written: “Almost fancied the Indian guys at the swimming pool yesterday. Despite their thick prickly torsos and rapey grins.”
She said she deleted the tweet years ago and it had been “in response to a particular event that had happened to me whilst backpacking as a young person - and wasn't ever meant for public consumption”.
Labour accused the Green Party of repeatedly selecting “candidates with racist views” and vetting failures.
The poll was called to replace Liam Shrivastava’s council seat after he was elected the first Green mayor of Lewisham.
Londoners face nine local by-elections this month at a cost of almost £250,000.
Green representatives in Camden, Haringey, Ealing, Lambeth and Hackney councils immediately stood down after the local elections on May 7 meaning new votes have to be held.
Seven newly elected councillors have to be replaced due to a variety of reasons.
Six of them are from the Green Party with representatives in Camden, Haringey, Ealing, Lambeth and Hackney councils immediately quitting.
They include Saiqa Ali, who was elected as one of 29 Green councillors in Lambeth, who resigned following her arrest over allegations she had made a series of antisemitic social media posts.
The election of Zoë Garbett in Hackney means another by-election will take place to fill her council seat.
