ISTANBUL: Turkey’s main opposition headed for a decisive victory yesterday in Istanbul’s re-run election, dealing one of the biggest blows to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his 16 years in power and promising a “new beginning” in the country’s largest city.
Ekrem Imamoglu, mayoral candidate of the secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP), was leading with 54 per cent of votes versus 45pc for Erdogan’s AK Party (AKP) candidate, with more than 99pc of ballots opened, Turkish broadcasters said.
“Today, 16 million Istanbul residents have renewed our faith in democracy and refreshed our trust in justice,” Imamoglu told supporters.
His AKP opponent, former prime minister Binali Yildirim, congratulated him and wished him “all the luck” in serving Istanbul, Turkey’s commercial hub. Erdogan also tweeted his congratulations to the CHP candidate.
Imamoglu had won the original mayoral election on March 31 by a narrow margin that prompted the Islamist-rooted AKP to demand a re-run, citing what it said were voting irregularities.
The High Election Board’s decision to grant that request drew sharp criticism from Turkey’s Western allies and from Erdogan’s opponents at home, stirring concerns about the rule of law and raising the stakes in a re-run that many Turks saw as a test of their country’s democracy.
Broadcasters put the CHP’s lead yesterday at about 700,000 votes, eclipsing the roughly 13,000-vote margin in March.
The election board said it would announce the election results as soon as possible.
Imamoglu, a former businessman and district mayor who waged an inclusive campaign and avoided criticising Erdogan, said he was ready to work with the AKP to tackle Istanbul’s problems, including its transport gridlock and the needs of its Syrian refugees.
“In this new page in Istanbul, there will from now on be justice, equality, love, tolerance; while misspending (of public funds), pomp, arrogance and the alienation of the other will end,” he said.
Erdogan himself served as Istanbul’s mayor in the 1990s before he embarked on a national political career.