Ekrem Imamoglu, mayoral candidate of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), accompanied by his wife Dilek, casts his ballot at a polling station in Istanbul, Turkey, June 23, 2019. REUTERS/Cansu Alkaya
June 23, 2019
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – 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.
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.
(Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)
