Turkey’s ruling party to seek do-over polls in Istanbul

By Faruk Zorlu

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party will seek a do-over for recent local elections in Istanbul, a senior party official said on Tuesday.

The party would submit an "extraordinary objection" to the result of the mayoral poll, which may culminate in voters going back to the polls in the country’s most populous city, Deputy Chairman Ali Ihsan Yavuz told reporters in Istanbul.

Yavuz added that AK Party would also make an extraordinary objection to the mayoral poll results in Istanbul's district of Buyukcekmece.

An AK Party appeal to cancel the election results in Istanbul’s Buyukcekmece district over alleged irregularities will be decided by the council on Tuesday, he had previously said.

The residential addresses of over 11,000 people were allegedly unlawfully moved to Buyukcekmece, in order to unfairly sway the elections.

Millions of Turkish voters cast their votes nationwide on March 31 in local elections to choose Turkey’s mayors, city council members, mukhtars (neighborhood officials), and members of elder councils for the next five years.

According to unofficial results in the Istanbul mayoral race, before any recounts, Ekrem Imamoglu, the candidate of main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), leads with 48.79% of the vote, ahead of the AK Party’s Binali Yildirim with 48.51%.

Contesting the results, the AK Party has asked for a recount, saying the recount might change the results.