Turkish opposition candidate declared Istanbul mayor
The candidate from Turkey's main opposition party has been declared Istanbul's new mayor, despite a pending appeal from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) to invalidate the vote and hold a rerun.
As Al Jazeera reports, Ekrem Imamoglu of the Republican People's Party (CHP) received the mandate at the Istanbul electoral board offices on Wednesday afternoon after recounting in a number of districts in the city.
Footage showed a large crowd of cheering supporters outside the building in the Caglayan district. Imamoglu then headed to the mayorship headquarters, where he took over the duty from incumbent Mevlut Uysal.
It is reported that Imamoglu won the race in Turkey's biggest city and economic hub by a small margin, ending 15 years of control by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party.