The Turkish opposition’s İstanbul mayoral candidate, Ekrem İmamoğlu, won again in a repeat election on Sunday, garnering more than 54 percent of the vote, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.
The ruling party’s candidate, Binali Yıldırım, finished the race with some 45 percent of the vote.
Turkey’s Supreme Election Board (YSK) had canceled the results of the March 31 election in İstanbul in early May.
İmamoğlu won the election in March by a razor-thin margin of some 15,000 votes.
According to the unofficial results, the support for İmamoğlu increased to 4.7 million votes, while Yıldırım’s support plunged to 3.9 million.
Voter turnout remained roughly the same at 84 percent.
While the vote count was still under way, Yıldırım held a press conference conceding defeat.
He congratulated his opponent and wished him luck in governing Turkey’s largest city.
“The age of waste, arrogance, discrimination and prejudice has ended in İstanbul, and the age of love and fraternity has begun,” İmamoğlu told reporters after his victory.
