Turkey’s Supreme Election Board (YSK) on Monday awarded main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate Mansur Yavaş the certificate of election, making him the new mayor of the country’s capital Ankara, opposition Sözcü newspaper reported.
Yavaş scored a victory in Turkey’s March 31 local elections, where he maintained a lead of about 124,00 votes over ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) candidate Mehmet Özhaseki, marking an end to Ankara’s rule by the AKP and its predecessors since 1994.
Yavaş’s certificate of election was granted after the YSK on Sunday rejected the ruling AK Party’s request for a full recount of all votes in 13 districts in Ankara. YSK Chairman Sadi Güven has said that the judicial process in disputed districts is continuing, while noting it is “not possible” to make an evaluation amid a continuing process.
The newly-crowned Ankara mayor said he wished the same victory for CHP’s mayoral candidate in İstanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, who remains in the lead amid a partial vote recount by the YSK. The ruling AKP on Sunday requested a complete vote recount in 38 districts on İstanbul.
Yavaş, 63, who comes from a nationalist background, lost the mayoral competition in 2014 in a election marred by claims of voter fraud.