UPDATE - Turkey: AK Party submits extraordinary appeal for polls

ADDS REMARKS BY RULING PARTY'S ISTANBUL PROVINCIAL HEAD; CHANGES SPOT; EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Baris Gundogan and Ali Bayaslan

ANKARA / ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party on Tuesday submitted an extraordinary appeal to the Supreme Election Council (YSK) over the results of the mayoral poll in Istanbul.

"We have suspicions [about Istanbul’s elections] and we still were not able to resolve these doubts," said Ali Ihsan Yavuz, AK Party’s deputy chairman.

He added that only the YSK could resolve these doubts regarding the local polls held on March 31.

Bayram Senocak, the party’s Istanbul provincial head, said AK Party has applied to the provincial election board not to issue the certificate in Istanbul until the YSK reached a verdict.

Senocak added that a fresh ballot could yield the "best and most transparent" outcome.

According to unofficial results, Ekrem Imamoglu of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) led the Istanbul mayoral race with 48.79% of the vote prior to all recounts, ahead of AK Party's Binali Yildirim at 48.51%.

Contesting the results after "organized irregularities" surfaced, AK Party has asked for a recount, saying this may change the results.

* Writing by Dilara Hamit, Erdogan Cagatay Zontur and Jeyhun Aliyev