Istanbul mayor headed for reelection, in blow to Erdogan’s party

Istanbul: The mayor of Istanbul was headed for a stinging reelection victory against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling party early Monday, beating back a broad campaign by the president and his government and keeping Turkey’s largest city and economic powerhouse in opposition hands.

The strong showing by Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu put him on track for his third win against Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, solidifying his status as a star in the political opposition. Many Turks see Imamoglu as a potential contender for the presidency.

Partial returns showed Imamoglu defeating the ruling party’s candidate, Murat Kurum by a substantial margin. With 96 per cent of ballot boxes counted, Imamoglu had won 50 per cent, with Kurum getting 40 per cent, according to preliminary results from the state-run Anadolu news agency.

The opposition was also on the verge of significant gains in other local elections across Turkey. Preliminary vote counts Monday kept it in power in four of the country’s largest cities — Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Antalya — and gave it control of a fifth, Bursa, and a number of smaller cities.

By early Monday, more than than 90 per cent of ballots boxes had been counted in most districts. Official results are expected from the Supreme Election Council in the coming days.

“Istanbul has given its message; Istanbul has finished this job,” Imamoglu told supporters gathered outside city hall early Monday. “Tomorrow morning we will turn a new page.”

Erdogan stopped short of conceding defeat in any specific races while addressing his own supporters outside his party’s headquarters in Ankara, the capital, but acknowledged that his party had not done well.

“The ballot boxes are closed; the nation has had its final say,” he said. “We will examine the reasons for this setback.”

While Turks voted for mayors and other municipal officials across Turkey on Sunday, much of the focus was on Istanbul, given its size and its political and economic importance.

The vote came amid a prolonged cost-of-living crisis, during which the value of Turkey’s currency has sunk, and many people have come to feel poorer. It also followed presidential and parliamentary elections in May that granted Erdogan another term, dashing the hopes of a coalition of opposition parties that had joined forces to try to unseat him.