Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Ankara, SANA-The opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate Ekrem Imamoglu has won a landslide victory in the rerun of Istanbul’s mayoral election on Sunday as his opponent Binali Yildirim of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) conceded defeat .
Turkish media mentioned that most ballot boxes counted, Imamoglu won 53.6 per cent to Yildirim’s 45.4 per cent.
According to Anadolu Agency which is affiliated to the Turkish regime, Binali Yildirim conceded and congratulated his rival in a televised speech shortly after the results showed Imamoglu leading, with nearly 54 percent of the votes.
The result was a huge increase for Mr. Imamoglu on the overturned March ballot that he won by 13 thousand votes.
The Istanbul mayoral elections were first held on March 31, when Imamoglu secured 48.8 percent of the vote, while the AK Party’s Yildirim held 48.55 percent, making Imamoglu mayor with a slim margin of 13 thousand votes.
The state election board annulled the vote of March 31 and ordered a rare repeat of the contest, sparking criticism that the board had succumbed to the demands of Erdogan who seeks to impose dominance over the country.
Ruaa al-Jazaeri