Opposition candidate wins Istanbul election re-run

World Monday 24/June/2019 16:22 PM
By: Times News Service
Opposition candidate wins Istanbul election re-run

Istanbul: Opposition candidate Ekrem Imamoglu won a rerun of Istanbul's mayoral election, beating former Prime Minister and AK Party candidate Binali Yildirim, Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

On Monday, the head of Turkey’s Supreme Election Council (YSK) Sadi Guven was cited by the agency as stating that 8,925,063 of 10,560,963 eligible voters cast their ballots in the mayoral election with turnout at 84.5 percent.

According to Guven, Imamoglu, who was a candidate for the Republican People's Party (CHP), received 54.21 percent of votes with 4,741,868 people favouring him. His opponent, former Prime Minister and Justice and Development Party (AKP) candidate Binali Yildirim received 3,935,453, or 44.99 percent, vote, he added.

Imamoglu was congratulated by both Yildirim and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Imamoglu and Yildirim vied to run the metropolitan municipality of Turkey's most populous city after a previous vote on March 31 was annulled by the country's top election council last month. Imamoglu was also the winner of that vote.