LONDON mayor Ken Livingstone and his Tory rival Boris Johnson are headed for a dramatic face-off on May 1, the day of the London mayoral election, a new survey suggested Thursday.

A Guardian/ICM poll said that Johnson is the first choice candidate of 42 percent of London voters, while Livingstone follows close behind with 41 percent of the votes.

Taking into account voters’ second-choice candidate, the poll puts Johnson narrowly in the overall lead with 51 percent to Livingstone’s 49 percent.

The poll — “the only one to be carried out by a national newspaper using established techniques” according to the Guardian — questioned 1,002 Londoners from March 28 to April 1.

The results seem to confirm the widely held sentiment that the London mayoral contest is a two-horse race between Boris and Ken, with other candidates standing no chance.

The Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick, for instance, only managed to pull in ten percent of firstchoice votes, according to The Guardian.

The daily believes the race will ultimately be decided by the number of second choice votes from supporters of the Liberal Democrats and other smaller parties such as the Greens and the British National Party.

According to The Guardian’s poll, 43 percent of Liberal Democrats say they will use their second vote to support Johnson and only 30 percent will back Livingstone.

The Green Party has already urged its supporters to give Livingstone their second preference vote.

Johnson, meanwhile, was forced to reject a similar offer from the far-right BNP.

Pointing to the “strong personal nature” of the campaign, The Guardian also notes that ‘Red Ken’ is regarded as the candidate with the best policy on many issues, including transport and the environment, but ultimately he lacks voters’ trust — only 28 percent off all those polled said the incumbent mayor was the most honest candidate.

Old Etonian Johson, on the other hand, lacks the support of female voters and is considered less likely to understand the needs of Londoners.