Turkey: Opposition party candidate leads Istanbul vote

ANKARA

The main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) candidate is leading in the mayoral race in Istanbul, Turkey's most populous city, over the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, the Turkish elections authority said Monday morning.

Sadi Guven, the head of Turkey's Supreme Election Council (YSK), said CHP candidate Ekrem Imamoglu is leading with 4,159,650 votes over the AK Party's Binali Yildirim with 4,131,761.

Speaking to reporters in the capital Ankara, Guven said "so far results coming out of 31,102 boxes [in Istanbul] have been tallied in the system. Results coming out of 84 ballot boxes have not been tallied in the system yet due to objections.”

Guven also said that parties can apply to the council through Wednesday to contest the results.

Imamoglu, speaking in Istanbul, said according to the election council 99.74 percent of the votes have been tallied, while results from 82 ballot boxes have not.

Imamoglu also pledged that if he emerges the winner, he will serve all 16 million Istanbulites equally, without discrimination.

In Sunday's elections overall, Turkey's ruling party is leading with 16 metropolitan municipalities (larger cities) and 24 cities claimed by AK Party candidates, according to unofficial results.

Millions of Turkish voters cast their votes nationwide on Sunday in elections to choose Turkey’s mayors, city council members, mukhtars (neighborhood officials), and members of elder councils for the next five years.

* Writing by Jeyhun Aliyev