Opposition Candidate Wins Istanbul Mayoral Redo

In a sharp rebuke to Turkey’s ruling AKP party and its autocratic leader, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the residents of Istanbul voted for opposition party candidate Ekrem Imamoglu over AKP candidate Binali Yildirim. Imamoglu, of the CHP party, had won the original election held in March by a narrow margin; however, Turkey’s electoral commission, under pressure from Erdogan, voided the election. The gamble failed to pay for Erdogan, however, when voters voted for Imamoglu by a 9% margin on June 23, versus the .16% margin on March 31. Combined with defeats in other large Turkish cities, including the capital Ankara, it marks the one of the largest rebukes to Erdogan’s rule since he took power in 2003.