The mayor of London, Mr Ken Livingstone, has been readmitted to the British Labour Party just three years into his five-year suspension.
The decision to allow the maverick politician to rejoin the party was made at a meeting of Labour's ruling National Executive Committee.
A Labour Party spokesman said: "Ken Livingstone is now a member of the Labour Party and will be able to take part in the ballot on whether he will be Labour's candidate for London Mayor in elections this year."
The Left-winger was suspended from the party in 2000 after standing as an independent against Frank Dobson, the party's official candidate, in that year's London mayoral elections.