Initial results from the state-run Anadolu news agency showed opposition candidate Ekrem Imamoglu leading with 53.69 percent to Yildirim's 45.4 percent with more than 95 percent of ballots counted.
"According to the result as of now my competitor Ekrem Imamoglu is leading the race. I congratulate him and wish him good luck," Yildirim said.
Istanbul went back to the polls on Sunday in a re-run of the mayoral election that has become a test of Turkish democracy as well as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s continued popularity at a time of economic trouble.
Election authorities annulled the first vote in March after Erdogan’s party alleged corruption in a count that showed the ruling AKP’s candidate had narrowly lost.
Polling stations opened at 0500 GMT and the 10.5 million registered voters had until 1400 GMT to elect the new mayor.
Critics say Erdogan simply did not like the March 31 result, after a little-known former district mayor, 49-year-old Ekrem Imamoglu, snatched victory for the opposition by just 13,000 votes.
The city of 15 million is Turkey’s economic powerhouse and has been a crucial source of patronage for Islamic conservatives since Erdogan himself won the mayorship a quarter-century ago.
But Imamoglu, of the secular Republican People’s Party, has become a household name since being stripped of his victory.
He vowed a “battle for democracy” and used an upbeat message under the slogan “Everything will be fine,” in stark contrast to the usual aggressive name-calling of Turkish politics.
Fearing fraud, the opposition mobilized an army of lawyers from across Turkey to monitor the election, with the Istanbul Bar Association unfurling a huge banner at their headquarters that reads: “Stand guard for democracy.”
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