Jamie Driscoll has been elected as the first ever North of Tyne mayor .
Five candidates were initially battling for the position that will see them serve in office for five years.
But after , three were eliminated - resulting in a two-horse race between Conservative Charlie Hoult and Labour's Driscoll.
Independent candidate John McCabe, Lib Dem John Appleby and UKIP Hugh Jackson were all eliminated at the first stage at Northumbria University's Sport Central on Friday.
Driscoll was announced as mayor shortly after 3.20pm.
He scored 76,862 votes, while Hoult received 60,089.
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Voters in Newcastle, Northumberland and North Tyneside were given the chance to make one vote for their first choice candidate, with an optional vote for a second choice candidate if no candidate has more than 50% of the votes in the first round.
Driscoll was the clear favourite with the bookies to win at the start of the day with odds of 1/16.
But Independent candidate McCabe will be hoping to repeat the success of Middlesbrough new mayor.
Labour lost the race to Independent Andy Preston who won on the first count with 59% of the vote.
Voters took to the polls for the mayor election on the same day as the local council elections in Newcastle and North Tyneside - our live blog on that is here.
Labour remains in control of North Tyneside despite losing two seats to the Tories. Labour gained Monkseaton North from the Conservatives but lost Tynemouth and Cullercoats.
In Newcastle, Newcastle First part saw its first councillor win a ward and a Lib Dem councillor who lost out by just 12 votes last year was re-elected.
Follow our to find out all the latest updates from the counts:
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