ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suffered a bruising defeaton Sunday as the opposition candidate in Istanbul’s controversial mayoralelection re-run romped to victory.
Ekrem Imamoglu had won the first mayoral vote in March by a slim margin of13,000 votes over Erdogan’s chosen candidate, Binali Yildirim, whocontested the results and a new election was ordered.
After being stripped of that victory over disputed claims of fraud,Imamoglu vowed a “battle for democracy” that turned him into a householdname.
With some 99 percent of ballots counted by Sunday night, Imamoglu waswinning by more than 775,000 votes – 54 percent, with Yildirim on 45percent, the Anadolu state news agency reported.
“It was not a single group or party, but the whole of Istanbul and Turkeythat won this election,” Imamoglu said in his victory speech as scenes ofhis ecstatic supporters broke out across the city of 15 million.
“Mr President, I am ready to work in harmony with you. I convey from heremy request to meet with you in the shortest time possible,” he added.
Critics had accused Erdogan of refusing to give up control of Istanbul,Turkey´s economic powerhouse and a crucial source of patronage for Islamicconservatives since he won the mayorship himself a quarter of a century ago.
But the Turkish leader conceded defeat this time, writing on Twitter: “Icongratulate Ekrem Imamoglu who has won the election based on preliminaryresults.”
‘Everything will be fine’
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Imamoglu, a little-known district mayor at the start of the year,galvanised voters with a relentlessly positive campaign under the slogan,”Everything will be fine”.
That was in stark contrast to the usual aggressive name-calling of Turkishpolitics and struck a chord with voters.
“Our happiness has just started. We will celebrate till morning. We havebeen waiting 17 years (for a win). We believed in him and he believed inus,” said 29-year-old Imamoglu supporter Eda Alday, as cars honked and fanswaved Turkish flags in the street.
Imamoglu faced the juggernaut of Erdogan´s ruling AKP party, which has beenin power in Turkey since 2002 and remains the most popular political forcenationwide.
AKP candidate Yildirim, a mild-mannered Erdogan loyalist who oversawseveral huge transport projects and served as prime minister, this timequickly conceded defeat.
He had already struck a conciliatory tone earlier on Sunday, saying “if wehave wronged, knowingly or unknowingly, one of our fellow Istanbulites orour challengers, if we have done something unjust, I ask for yourforgiveness.” -APP/AFP
