UPDATE - Erdogan congratulates CHP’s Istanbul mayoral candidate

UPDATES WITH MORE QUOTES FROM ERDOGAN

By Nilay Kar Onum

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish president on Sunday congratulated the opposition’s mayoral candidate Ekrem Imamoglu, as unofficial results showed a convincing win for latter in the election rerun in Istanbul.

“The national will has appeared once again today. I congratulate Ekrem Imamoglu, who has won the election, according to unofficial results,” Erdogan said in a Twitter post.

According to unofficial results, with a total of 99.37% of ballots counted, Imamoglu won 54.03% of the votes, while ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party's candidate Binali Yildirim received 45.09%.

Imamoglu and Binali Yildirim of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party vied to run the metropolitan municipality of Turkey's most populous city after a previous vote on March 31 was annulled by the country's top election council last month.

Erdogan said Turkey will continue to work to achieve its 2023 goals within the framework of principles of People’s Alliance, "without compromising democracy, the rule of law and peace, prosperity, and stability of our country.”

The ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party and opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) formed the People's Alliance ahead of the June 24, 2018 general elections.

Referring to this month’s G-20 summit to be held in Japan, his upcoming visit to China which will be followed by Southern Europe and Balkans summit, the president said: “We will continue to carefully address Turkey’s all domestic and foreign issues [...] in line with our national interests.”