Erdogan faces telling defeat in Istanbul mayoral rerun

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party’s candidate (AKP), is headed for defeat in Istanbul rerun mayoral election, which would represent a huge blow to the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan if confirmed.

Istanbul is Turkey’s commercial city and losing it to an opposition will have telling impact on Erdogan who began his politics there.

With more than 97% of the votes counted, opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate Ekrem Imamoglu was in the lead with about 53 percent of the vote, state news agency Anadolu reported on Sunday.

Binali Yıldırım, the ruling AKP candidate, had about 45 percent according to Anadolu.

Yıldırım appeared to concede the vote shortly after the unofficial results were announced.

“My rival seems to be leading the election. I congratulate him. This elections showed democracy is functioning in Turkey. I wish Ekrem İmamoglu will make good services to people. For his good services we will help him,” he said.

If confirmed, the result would be a major blow for Erdogan. The long-time leader was hoping for a reversal of the original vote in March, which saw his AKP lose by a slim margin of just over 13,000 votes. The AKP challenged the outcome of that race, claiming fraud. In a controversial ruling, the Turkish election board cancelled the result and ordered a new vote.

The March local election had jolted Erdogan, who has been in power since 2003. AKP lost power to CHP in the country’s three largest cities: Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir.

Istanbul was a particularly painful defeat for the president, as his own political career started there.