PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has been elected the new Mayor of Chicago after taking an outright majority in the polls.

Emanuel had been involved in a legal battle over his inclusion on the ballot.

Initially, an Illinois court ruled that Emanuel did not meet the Illinois state municipal code regarding the residency of Chicago mayoral candidates.

That ruling was overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court, which restored Emanuel’s name to the ballot.

Emanuel took 55 per cent of the votes, which put him beyond the level which would have forced him into a run-off in April. However, despite his strong entry to the post, the Chicago Sun-Times suggests that Chicago’s economic problems could ‘seal his fate’ as a one-term mayor.

The paper says Emanuel faces the biggest financial crisis in the city’s history.

The Huffington Post and AP report that this was first time in two decades that a Daley did not appear on the ballot, after father and son served as mayor for over 43 of the last 56 years. It was also the first election in over 60 years without an incumbent in the running.