In Setback for Opposition, Turkey Orders Rerun of Istanbul Vote

Ekrem Imamoglu of the opposition Republican People’s Party had won the mayor’s race in Turkey’s largest city.

File image of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

(Photo: AP)

Turkey's top election authority voided the election victory of an opposition candidate and ordered a rerun of the mayoral election in Istanbul, ruling on Monday, 6 May, in favour of the challenge made by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party to the legitimacy of the vote it narrowly lost.

Ekrem Imamoglu of the opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, won the mayor’s race in Turkey’s largest city by a slim margin on 31 March, defeating the ruling party’s candidate, former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

Erdogan's conservative and Islamic-based Justice and Development Party, or AKP, alleged election irregularities made the results invalid. It pushed for an annulment of the vote after 17 days of appeals and repeated recounts failed to produce a different outcome.

State-run Anadolu Agency said the Supreme Electoral Board ruled in favour of Erdogan's party and new elections in Istanbul would be held 23 June. Private NTV television reported the board voted 7-4 in favour of voiding the earlier vote.

The opposition has in the past questioned the independence of the electoral body, and members held an emergency meeting Monday night, NTV reported.

Turkey's 31 March local elections were a major setback for Erdogan. His party lost city hall in the capital, Ankara, as well as Istanbul, ending a 25-year run in control of both cities by the Justice and Development Party's the ruling party's and its Islamist predecessor's 25-year-old hold on both cities.

(Published in arrangement with AP)