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       West Midlands mayor thriller that exposed Tory and Labour challenges
        
 (HTM) Source
        
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       Twenty-four hours later, the ICC in Birmingham was filled with the
       noise of hundreds of people counting thousands of pieces of paper.
        
       It’s an unmistakeable sound to anyone who’s ever been to watch an
       election result come in.
        
       As the votes piled up, it started to look like that prediction of
       defeat the previous morning, illustrated with such raw language, might
       have been on the money.
        
       One by one, the candidates started to arrive, delivered to the waiting
       photographers and film crews by an escalator, giving the whole event a
       bizarre Saturday night TV gameshow vibe.
        
       The predicted result time of mid-afternoon came and went.
        
       Independent candidate Akhmed Yakoob, who stood on a pro-Palestine
       ticket, was doing very well in Birmingham.
        
       News and rumour filtered in from the six other count centres. The
       Conservatives doing well in Dudley, Labour up in Wolverhampton, a
       confirmed result in Tory stronghold Solihull.
        
       "It’s too close to call" was the repeated message from campaign
       teams as we scanned their faces for any hint of joy or disappointment.
        
        
        
        
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