Ken Livingstone and Oona King set to face at least one other candidate in Labour London mayoral race

Ken Livingstone and Oona King are set to be joined by at least one other candidate in the first stage of the process for selecting Labour's candidate for the 2012 London mayoral election, it emerged today. As nominations for the mayoral selection race close at 5pm today, the Guardian understands that fewer than five Labour party members have put themselves forward. The other candidates will not be identified until nominations close later this afternoon, but the Guardian understands that none share the high public profile of the two contenders who have launched their campaigns to date, Livingstone and King. The party will shortlist by interview on 24 June and a number of hustings will take place over the summer. The winner will be announced on 24 September, on the eve of the annual Labour conference. King, the former MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, was the first to formally declare her intention to stand last month , following the surprise Labour decision to run the selection process virtually concurrently with the party's leadership race. The decision to start the process just a few weeks after the general election for a contest that is two years away has been criticised by one of King's supporters, MP Jim Fitzpatrick, who said the race should have been held later in the year and had been "rigged" in Livingstone's favour – a claim hotly denied by the Labour party general secretary, Ray Collins. Livingstone has wanted to return to the role of mayor since losing the 2008 election to Tory Boris Johnson and routinely attends City Hall events to watch his successor being grilled by the London assembly. He has held two London conferences in the past 18 months under the banner of the Progressive London coalition, which has been widely seen as preparation for his bid to be reselected as Labour candidate. Livingstone said at his official launch earlier this month that more people would enter if he "dropped dead" . The former mayor believes he is the best candidate to challenge Johnson in 2012 – though the latter is keeping Londoners guessing about whether he will stand again. Livingstone told the Guardian: "There are a lot of people in politics who do not want to run unless they are certain of winning. You can't really enjoy it unless you recognise that it is a gamble." The vote to choose the Labour candidate will be made up of a 50:50 split between London party members and individual members of officially affiliated organisations, such as unions. The first mayoral selection process in 2000 saw three candidates shortlisted: Glenda Jackson MP, Frank Dobson MP and Livingstone. Dobson was selected amid attempts by the Labour leadership to block Livingstone, prompting the latter to quit the party and stand as an independent. He went on to win the mayoralty in 2000, before being brought back to the fold in time to be selected unopposed as Labour's candidate in 2004.