Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

London has just elected Sadiq Khan, the Labour Party's candidate, as its new mayor. The victory is supposedly historic in more than one ways.

To begin with, he received the largest ever number of votes of any elected London mayoral candidate and won with a margin of over 10 percent. Most importantly, as the son of Pakistani immigrant parents, he is the first Muslim mayor in a major European capital. The latter meant his election made international headlines.

However, apart from producing a Muslim mayor, the contest was rather boring. After all, many polls had suggested for months that Khan would be the eventual winner. In a mostly pro-Labour city where 45 of the 73 seats in 2015 general election were held by Labour, to welcome a Labour mayor after the eight-year reign of the Conservative mayor Boris Johnson is more like return to normalcy. Also electing a mayor from immigrant background was only a matter of time considering the fact that London is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world and 44 percent of its 8.6 million residents are ethnic minorities.

Khan's success can be attributed to many elements. In a city like London with a diverse population, Khan's self-made success from a son of bus driver to a well-established lawyer turned Member of Parliament, is better received than the story of his opponent Zac Goldsmith, who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Although the two advocate similar centrist public policies on housing, transportation and the environment, they diverge sharply on the EU. Khan supports UK in the EU, while Goldsmith supports Brexit. The Brexit stance doesn't go down well in London where the big business community and the City of London benefit from EU membership.

Khan's victory is note-worthy for many reasons. London is an important city and the mayor of London is not just a regional politician. Khan will soon be considered as a heavyweight in his party just like his predecessor is now a serious contender for the next Conservative leader after David Cameron. Khan's success could be a boost to the Labour Party but also potentially threaten the current leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Nevertheless, it has become a phenomenon for a simple reason: Khan is Muslim. Although he tried to play down his religion during the campaign by saying he has many identities and being a Muslim is just one of them, his opponent launched a campaign anyway by focusing on his faith and referring to Khan as a "radical" who shared platforms with Islamist extremists. Even though this tactic didn't work well in London, it does reveal a true picture of European politics and society.

The recent refugee crisis and the IS-inspired terrorist attacks have fueled the hidden Islamophobia in Europe, which generally stems from public anxiety over immigration and the integration of Muslim minorities into majority cultures in Europe. Anti-Muslim protests in Germany and the rise of right-wing parties across western and northern Europe are symptoms. Europe has become schizophrenic. They could not let go the equality and human rights values they have long held high, but the expanding Muslim community in Europe makes them extremely uncomfortable.

London is probably inclusive and diverse as it boasts, but Europe in general is not the promised land depicted for Muslim communities. Integration difficulties persist and the rise of Islamophobia aggravates the problem. In this sense, the success story of Khan is just an exception.

The author is an assistant research fellow with the Department for European Studies, China Institute of International Studies. [email protected]