Turkey’s opposition leads based on initial results in Istanbul re-run

Ekrem Imamoglu, mayoral candidate of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), his wife Dilek and their son Semih cast their ballots at a polling station in Istanbul, Turkey, June 23, 2019. REUTERS/Cansu Alkaya NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

Turkey‘s main opposition was leading with 53.6% of votes versus 45.4% for President Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party in Istanbul’s high-stakes re-run mayoral election, with nearly 95% of the city’s ballots opened, CNN Turk said on Sunday.

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The election was seen as a test of the Turkey‘s ailing democracy, and a loss would be a blow to Erdogan who campaigned hard and whose ruling party and its predecessors have run the city for 25 years.