New Yorkers are voting today to choose a new mayor.

The Democratic candidate Bill de Blasio is the overwhelming favourite in the polls.

The city’s public advocate is widely seen as one of the most liberal mayoral candidates.

His Republican challenger is Joe Lhota, a former senior official in the mayoral offices of Michael Bloomberg and his predecessor Rudolph Giuliani.

The winner will succeed three-term mayor Bloomberg, a Republican who turned independent in 2007.