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prominence in politics as mayor of Istanbul in the mid-1990s and once said: "Whoever wins Istanbul, wins Turkey".
Snap elections speculation
There is speculation in Turkey that the massive setback of losing Istanbul could prompt Erdogan to call snap elections in a bid to reassert control over his party and ruling coalition backed by the ultra-nationalist MHP, both of which have shown increasing evidence of factional infighting among
the growing economic and political pressures.
The BBC reported Imamoglu as saying in a victory speech that the result marked a "new beginning" for the city, Turkey's business and cultural capital and behind around a third of the country's GDP.
"We are opening up a new page in Istanbul," Imamoglu,
49, said. "On this new page, there will be justice, equality, love. We will stop the arrogance and waste. Today 16 million Istanbullus have refreshed our belief in democracy. I thank them all from my heart. You have shown the world that Turkey still protects its democracy. And we have shown other countries who try to go down the road we were choosing that it is no road at all."
Imamoglu was also cited as saying: "Mr President [Erdogan], I am ready to work in harmony with you."
Prior to voting, Imamoglu told reporters: “Today our people will make the best decision ... for the sake of our democracy, for Istanbul and also for the legitimacy of all future elections.”
Imamoglu, mayor of Istanbul's Beylikduzu district, has won plaudits for responding to angry populist rhetoric by urging his supporters to extend the hand to their opponents as part of a campaign of "radical love" despite their differences. Some commentators even speculate he could be a future
Imamoglu met smears with smiles in his 'radical love' campaign against the AKP populists.
president of Turkey. There is some prospect of those who would seek to dislodge Erdogan getting a chance in early elections, but as things stand no polls are scheduled to take place until 2023.
In conceding defeat, Yildirim, Turkey's prime minister
until the post was abolished in favour of making Erdogan executive president in July last year as Turkey switched from parliamentary democracy to presidential democracy, told supporters: "I congratulate him [Imamoglu] and wish him good luck."
Yildirim, who was PM for two years, was elected Speaker of the new parliament in February. Before that he served as minister of transportation and communication. He is one of the founders of the AKP.
In the local elections at the end of March, the AKP also
lost control of Ankara and several other key Turkish cities. But Istanbul, the most influential part of the government's unofficial network of patronage, is the most serious loss for the party formed in 2001.
Journalist and writer Murat Yetkin told Reuters earlier
on June 23 before voting was under way in earnest: "If İmamoglu wins again, there’s going to be a chain of serious changes in Turkish politics."
"It will be interpreted as the beginning of a decline for AKP and for Erdogan as well,” he added, noting that the president himself had called the local elections “a matter of survival [for Turkey]".
Jubilant backers of Imamoglu are not about to under-rate their man.
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