On Sunday 23 June, mayoral elections in Istanbul declared Ekrem Imamoglu, leader of the secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP), mayor of the city. A re-run of mayoral elections had been asked by Erdogan’s AK Party, claiming there had been widespread voting irregularities resulting in the annulation of the first results. The head of the High Election Board, Sadi Guven announced on Monday 24 June that the electoral participation rate was 84.5%. Imamoglu secured 54.21% of the votes, a far wider victory margin than his narrow win three months ago. Erdogan congratulated the opposition leader for the victory and also AKP’s leader Binali Yildirim, who secured 44.99% of the votes. Johannes Hahn, EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations commended Imamoglu’s victory by tweeting that citizens of Istanbul gave a strong signal for democracy.