Giuliani helps Bloomberg to victory

Billionaire media mogul Michael Bloomberg narrowly won the battle to replace Rudolph Giuliani as the next mayor of New York early today.

His Democratic rival Mark Green conceded defeat half an hour after midnight in America following a nail-biting finish that echoed the presidential election exactly a year ago.

For much of the evening, the two candidates were locked in a statistical dead heat, separated at the halfway point by only 1,000 votes. But the gap later widened and with most of the 1.4 million votes counted, Mr Bloomberg had capturedthe city by barely 30,000 votes. Celebrating victory in front of cheering supporters, including Mayor Giuliani, Mr Bloomberg said: "This is our victory, a victory for our vision and our faith in the greatest city in the world.

"Tonight is not about Republicans or Democrats. It's about New Yorkers."

Although he has never held public office, the 59-year-old billionaire is estimated to have spent nearly $50 million (£38 million) of his personal fortune in the fight for City Hall - a record for a municipal election in America.

But he had trailed the Democrats badly entering the final week of the campaign. Before the weekend he was behind by 16 per cent with many New Yorkers said to be concerned at his lack of political experience. But yesterday, Mr Bloomberg staged a remarkable recovery, thanks to a late endorsement by Mr Giuliani, a fellow Republican whose popularity has soared following his leadership in the days following the attack on the World Trade Center.

Mr Giuliani, who had earlier seemed reluctant to throw his weight behind the politically inexperienced Mr Bloomberg, gave the billionaire a series of ringing endorsements in blanket television ads, saying his business record made him the man to rebuilt New York's battered economy. In the final stages, the race increasingly hung on fears of a recession and the best way to rebuild the World Trade Center and save tens of thousands of jobs

Mayor Giuliani, who will be knighted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace this month, was barred by law from standing for office for a third successive term but increasingly played the kingmaker. He had previously suggested that he might stay on as mayor for an extra year to deal with the crisis and later called for a six-month transitional period before the winner took office, rather than replacing him on 1 January.

The Bloomberg victory was a shock for Mr Green and his supporters who had expected to win an election in a city that is heavily Democratic and overwhelmingly chose Hillary Clinton as US Senator last November. Conceding defeat, Mr Green admitted: "We gave it our all, but it wasn't enough."

The Democrats seemed to have lost the election when many key supporters, especially blacks and Hispanics, either stayed at home or switched to the Republicans. Mr Green was damaged by a fight for the nomination in which his supporters claimed his Hispanic rival, Fernando Ferrer, was in the pocket of the controversial black activist, the Rev Al Sharpton; remarks that cost him support in both camps.