Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said a Cabinet shakeup will take place if necessary in the wake of an election defeat sustained by his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in İstanbul on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters ahead of his party’s parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday, Erdoğan said: “If there is need for such a thing [Cabinet reshuffle], we will do it. These things are not done based on orders.”
A repeat mayoral election was held in İstanbul on Sunday in which AKP candidate Binali Yıldırım lost the race for a second time against Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu.
İmamoğlu received around 54 percent of the vote in İstanbul, while Yıldırım, garnered some 45 percent.
İmamoğlu also won in the local elections held across Turkey on March 31 as the İstanbul mayoral candidate; however, his term as mayor lasted only 18 days as the Supreme Election Council annulled the results of the vote over an appeal filed by the AKP citing irregularities in the election.