LONDON, July 5, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran left-winger suspended by the party following a drawn-out anti-Semitism scandal, won re-election to parliament on Friday as an independent candidate.

Corbyn, 75, who has represented the London constituency of Islington North for more than 40 years, won the seat comfortably -- but for the first time without Labour affiliation.

He led the main opposition Labour party -- which is on course to return to power following Thursday's vote -- into the last election in 2019 but stepped down as leader after overseeing its worst results in decades.

He had been sitting as an independent MP since 2020, and announced at the outset of the election campaign that he would contest the constituency to be "an independent voice for equality, democracy and peace".

Hailing his win in the early hours of Friday, Corbyn said it was a "resounding message" that his constituents "want something different".

Labour suspended him in 2020 after he refused to fully accept the findings of a rights watchdog's probe into claims that anti-Semitism became rampant within Labour's ranks under his leadership.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission ruled the party broke equality law when Corbyn was in charge.

He said anti-Semitism had been "dramatically overstated for political reasons".