Sir Peter Soulsby has become the first directly-elected mayor of Leicester – taking 55 per cent of the vote.
The Labour candidate – who quit as the Leicester South MP to run for the post – polled 46,948 of first preference votes.
He said: "I'm very pleased to have got such an overwhelming endorsement for my vision for our city.
"We are facing very tough times as a city, but I'm particularly glad that I'll have such a strong team of Labour councillors around me. Some excellent people have been elected today."
He said the scale of Labour's victory emphasised the need to have better scrutiny in place for council decisions.
"It's going to be vitally important that we have effective scrutiny to balance that power," said Sir Peter.
He becomes the most powerful directly-elected politician in Britain after London mayor Boris Johnson.
New legislation later this year is likely to hand him unprecedented power over the authority.
Sir Peter is expected to select his ruling cabinet early next week. Eyres Monsell councillor Rory Palmer has already been chosen as deputy mayor.
He said: "Peter has put forward a bold and exciting vision for the city, and I can't wait to get started."
The vote was run under the supplementary voting system, meaning voters got a first and second choice.
But as Sir Peter had taken more than 50 per cent of the first preference vote, second preference votes were not needed.
His closest rival was Conservative candidate and city councillor Ross Grant, who trailed home with 9,688 votes.
He said: "It's not been a great day, but I'm pleased to come second, given the circumstances."
Independent candidate Rick Moore, who came third, said: "I'm new to the political scene but I think we ran a good, clean campaign.
"It was Labour's day, and I hope that Sir Peter Soulsby is successful in improving Leicester over the next four years.
"I am proud that I came into this race as a total outsider but managed to come third."
Liberal Democrat candidate Gary Hunt, who finished fourth, said: "We ran a positive campaign and I put forward fresh ideas for how to make Leicester a better city.
"Thousands of people supported my vision for the city, and I appreciate that."
Independent candidate David Bowley said: "I'm proud to have picked up close to 2,000 votes. It shows that my message is getting through."
Mature student Lee Sowden came last with 631 votes.
Overall turn-out in the election – which many predicted would increase participation in local democracy – was 41%.
Sir Peter will outline his vision for the city in Monday's Mercury.
LEICESTER MAYOR - The full results
Lab win
Soulsby, Peter (Lab) 46,948
Grant, Ross (Con) 9,688
Moore, Rick (Ind) 7,635
Hunt, Gary (LD) 6,029
Forse, Geoff (Green) 3,452
Patel, Nima (Ind) 3,358
Anderson, Regine (UKIP) 2,195
Farma, Mohinder (Com) 1,944
Bowley, David (Ind) 1,784
Mu-Hamid Pathan (Ind) 1,465
Sowden, Lee (Ind) 631
Turn-out 40.7%
MORE ELECTION RESULTS AND ANALYSIS FROM LEICESTER AND LEICESTERSHIRE
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