The gap between the ruling party mayoral candidate for Istanbul, Binali Yıldırım, and opposition candidate Ekrem Imamoğlu had dropped to 15,823 votes as of early Monday, with about 90 percent of the invalidated ballots reassessed in the partial recount.
In the March 31 local election, the opposition not only prevailed in a tight race in Istanbul’s financial and cultural hub, it also took control of Ankara, the capital. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling AKP, which held both cities for decades, contested the results, claiming the elections were tainted.
On Sunday Turkey’s ruling party appealed to the country’s top election authority for a total recount of votes in Istanbul’s 39 districts. Later on Sunday, the election board rejected the AKP’s appeal.
Imamoğlu urged the governing AKP to concede. “I understand that it is not easy to lose (Istanbul) after ruling it for 25 years, but this is what democracy is about,” he said.