2 candidates spar in Istanbul mayoral race debate

Istanbul’s top two mayoral candidates on Sunday sat down for a televised debate a week ahead of a re-run of polls in the Turkish megalopolis, home to some 16 million people.

The debate between People’s Alliance candidate Binali Yildirim and Nation Alliance candidate Ekrem Imamoglu at Istanbul’s Lutfi Kirdar Congress Center started under the moderation of veteran journalist and TV presenter Ismail Kucukkaya.

The two candidates, sitting at a circular white table opposite the moderator, began courteously by exchanging gifts for Father’s Day, but soon began accusing each other of wrongdoing in the first round of the election.

Mr. Yildirim repeated his party’s allegations that the vote had been stolen. He said that a full recount would have shown he had won but that it was blocked by the opposition.

Mr. Imamoglu accused Mr. Yildirim of slander, saying that the High Election Council had made no mention of any stolen votes in its report. He accused Mr. Yildirim of announcing his own victory on the night of the March election when the numbers were showing the opposite.