With nearly 60% of the ballot boxes counted, incumbent Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, of the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, was leading in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city and economic hub, according to state broadcaster TRT.
Mansur Yavas, the mayor of the capital Ankara, retained his seat with a large margin, the results indicated.
The CHP was leading in 36 of Turkey’s 81 provinces, according to the results reported by TRT.
The vote was seen as a barometer of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s popularity as he sought to win back control of key urban areas he lost to the opposition in elections five years ago.
Update: The opposition CHP has won in a huge blow to Erdogan. Thanks for posting the update, Derin!
This is more of the same, right? Does this bother erdogan? He seems to have been doing fine for the last couple years. He jailed Istanbuls mayor when he commented on erdogan doing a bad job recently, right?