Turkey's ruling party contests Istanbul ballot results

By Hulya Corakci Ertan and Hanife Sevinc

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Istanbul provincial head of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party on Monday said voting in the city during Sunday’s local ballot had seen documented irregularities that could potentially change the outcome in AK Party’s favor.

"Our [party] organization has been vigilantly reviewing all available data since last night," Bayram Senocak told a party meeting on the European side of the city.

Senocak said party officials had come across a large number of irregularities and that these may be enough to change the outcome of elections in Turkey’s most populous province.

"After the contesting processes have been finalized, the Supreme Election Council will make the final call on results.

Whatever the outcome, we will welcome the decision of our nation," he added.

Senocak had previously said that AK Party won the election 3,870 votes ahead of main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP).

He added that there are over 290,000 votes deemed invalid and that most of them were from districts where AK Party won.

AK Party's Istanbul candidate Binali Yildirim told reporters on Monday that invalid votes cast on Sunday outnumber the vote difference tenfold, adding that his rival Ekrem Imamoglu -- the candidate of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) -- currently had 25,000 more votes.

"There are 31,136 ballot boxes. If one vote is filled in incorrectly in each ballot box, this equals 31,136 votes, which is more than the difference," Yildirim said.

In Sunday's elections overall, Turkey's ruling party is leading with 16 metropolitan municipalities (larger cities) and 24 cities claimed by AK Party candidates, according to unofficial results.

Millions of Turkish voters cast their votes nationwide on Sunday in elections to choose Turkey’s mayors, city council members, mukhtars (neighborhood officials), and members of elder councils for the next five years.

* Writing by Vakkas Dogantekin