Turkish opposition candidate formally declared Istanbul mayor 

Reuters informs that Turkey’s main opposition party candidate Ekrem Imamoglu was declared mayor of Istanbul on Wednesday after recounts of the March 31 local elections were completed.

The Independent writes that for the first time in 25 years the metropolis has been out of the hands of Recep Tayyip Erdogan's political party. "We have never given up on the unity and togetherness brought forward by the 16 million people living in this city," said Mr Imamoglu, the rising star in Turkey’s opposition People’s Republican Party, before entering the Istanbul municipal headquarters for a handover ceremony.

The New York Times writes that while Mr Erdogan's AKP remains the most popular party in the country, it has now lost control of the municipal governments of the country's main cities, including Ankara, which it also had controlled for a quarter century. The party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey applied to the country’s election commission on Tuesday for a rerun of the Istanbul mayor’s race, after two weeks of appeals and recounting of ballots still showed the opposition candidate ahead.

The Associated Press writes that the opposition party says the ruling party’s objections to the results lack credible evidence. It also points at ruling party statements prior to the elections reassuring the safety of the polls and rejecting the possibility of fraud.

Prepared by Marina Muradyan