Turkey's ruling party loses control of Istanbul

Supporters of Ekrem Imamoglu.
(Image credit: Burak Kara/Getty Images)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) took a hit on Sunday, losing the re-run of Istanbul's mayoral election.

Preliminary results show Ekrem Imamoglu of the secularist Republican People's Party, Turkey's main opposition party, won 54 percent of the vote. Imamoglu also won the first election in March, but the results were thrown out after AKP claimed there were irregularities. On Sunday night, Imamoglu vowed to "work in harmony" with Erdogan, and said the people of Istanbul are "opening up a new page" and "on this new page, there will be justice, equality, love."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.