 |
| Cheering supporters packed the streets to greet opposition candidate Ekrem Imamoglu (C) at the Istanbul court where he received his mandate certificate (AFP Photo/Yasin AKGUL) |
Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish election authorities on Wednesday confirmed opposition candidate Ekrem Imamoglu's win over President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AKP candidate after a recount of last month's disputed Istanbul election.
Thousands
of cheering supporters greeted Imamoglu outside the Istanbul town hall after he
received his mandate certificate, though electoral authorities must still rule
on an AKP appeal for a rerun over alleged irregularities in its narrow Istanbul
defeat.
"This
is a new dawn for Istanbul," Imamoglu told the chanting crowds from the
roof of a campaign bus. "Istanbul is proud of you."
He urged
Istanbul residents to set grudges aside, promising to be "everybody's
mayor".
"The
people granted me the honour of leading the most beautiful city in the world...
I pledge that I will repay my debt."
Erdogan's
Justice and Development Party (AKP) won the most votes nationwide in the March
31 election, but the loss of Ankara and Istanbul to the Republican People's
Party (CHP) was a stinging setback after a decade and a half in control.
The AKP has
won every election since it came to power 17 years ago, in part by tying its
success to strong economic growth and improvements in living standards during
Erdogan's years in power, first as premier then as president.
But voters
punished the party this time after a currency crisis last year hurt Turkish
households, sent inflation soaring and tipped the economy into recession for
the first time in a decade.
Defeat in
Istanbul would be especially sensitive for Erdogan, who grew up in one of its
poorer neighbourhoods and whose climb up the political career included being
mayor himself in the 1990s.
The AKP had
sought several recounts of the Istanbul vote, and the Supreme Electoral
Council, known by its Turkish initials YSK, has yet to rule on the party's
formal demand for a full rerun of Istanbul election. It was not clear how long
that decision would take.
Electoral authorities finished a recount of some Istanbul ballots late on Tuesday, but the CHP had already dismissed any challenges as without merit and urged the AKP to concede.
 |
Turkish
President Tayyip Erdogan (C) Erdogan had campaigned hard in Istanbul,
presenting the vote as a matter of national survival (AFP Photo/BULENT KILIC)
|
Electoral authorities finished a recount of some Istanbul ballots late on Tuesday, but the CHP had already dismissed any challenges as without merit and urged the AKP to concede.
"I am
so happy", said architecture student and CHP supporter Ilayda Pembe, 25.
"I was beginning to think he would never get the mandate. A new day for
Istanbul is starting."
Door to
door
For
supporters, Erdogan remains the strong leader Turkey needs and one who speaks
for more religiously conservative Turks. He survived a failed coup in 2016, and
a referendum in 2017 granted him wider powers as president.
Critics say
he has eroded Turkish rule of law and democracy however, especially after a
crackdown that followed the coup resulted in the detention of tens of thousands
of people.
Erdogan had
campaigned hard in Istanbul, presenting the vote as a matter of national
survival. He backed Binali Yildirim, a former premier and AKP heavyweight, as
the party candidate.
Imamoglu, a
former mayor of a local Istanbul district, ran a low-key campaign, reaching out
to voters door to door to talk over local issues. He is already being credited
with having revived the opposition's profile nationwide.
Erdogan
himself described the Istanbul vote as marred by "organised crimes"
and last week called for the ballot to be annulled.
Soon after
voting had ended, electoral authorities said Imamoglu led by nearly 30,000
ballots. Both he and Yildirim claimed victory as early results showed them in a
dead heat.
Imamoglu's
margin narrowed to around 14,000 after a recount of void ballots over the last
fortnight.
The CHP
said Tuesday that the final result was around 13,800 ballots in favour of
Imamoglu. Each candidate won around four million votes.
Lingering
uncertainty over the Istanbul result more than two weeks after the vote has
worried foreign investors and weighed on the lira currency.
With no new
elections until a 2023 presidential election, Erdogan's government has promised
to focus on economic reform to achieve stronger growth over the next four
years.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.