Erdogan’s party demands full recount after Istanbul defeat

Turkish electoral authorities yesterday began recounting votes from Istanbul districts after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AKP challenged tallies showing an opposition candidate narrowly won a weekend local election.

The AKP won most votes nationwide in Sunday’s municipal ballot, but results also showed the party lost the capital Ankara and the country’s economic hub Istanbul in one of its worst setbacks in a decade and a half in power. AKP officials on Tuesday filed a challenge with electoral authorities saying they had found irregularities in ballots in Ankara and Istanbul.

“The district branches of the electoral board in Istanbul decided to recount the ballots in eight districts after the appeals yesterday,” Supreme Election Board chief Sadi Guven told reporters.

He said some of the district branches had already started rechecking ballots, most of which were votes that had been rejected as invalid.

AKP officials had said there was a huge discrepancy between ballots cast at polling stations and data sent to election authorities.

Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, was a key election prize for Erdogan and he presented former premier and loyalist Binali Yildirim to run as the party candidate for mayor.

Erdogan, himself a former Istanbul mayor, had campaigned hard in the city. But the ruling party was stung by the economy with Turkey in recession for the first time in a decade and inflation in double digits.

Istanbul was a tight race and both Yildirim and the opposition CHP candidate Ekrem Imamoglu declared victory when tallies showed them in a dead heat.

Electoral authorities on Monday said Imamoglu was ahead by 28,000 votes with nearly all ballot boxes tallied, prompting AKP officials to challenge the result.

“The world is watching us, watching the results of our city’s election,” Imamoglu told reporters on Wednesday, asking that he be handed his mandate as soon as possible.

“I say clearly: Don’t let Turkey’s credibility be destroyed by 3 or 4 people acting like they are kids who had their toys taken away from them.”

But the AKP was fighting back. Deputy chairman Ali Ihsan Yavuz claimed the difference had now slipped to less than 20,000 votes between Imamoglu and Yildirim. Imamoglu had 48.79 percent of the votes while Yildirim had 48.52 percent, Anadolu news agency reported on Tuesday, citing preliminary results.

 

Erdogans party demands full recount after Istanbul defeat

Turkish electoral authorities yesterday began recounting votes from Istanbul districts after President Recep Tayyip Erdogans ruling AKP challenged tallies showing an opposition candidate narrowly won a weekend local election. The AKP won most votes nationwide in Sundays municipal ballot, but results also showed the party lost the capital Ankara and the countrys economic hub Istanbul in one of its worst setbacks in a decade and a half in power. AKP officials on Tuesday filed a challenge with electoral authorities saying they had found irregularities in ballots in Ankara and Istanbul. The district branches of the electoral board in Istanbul decided to recount the ballots in eight districts after the appeals yesterday, Supreme Election Board chief Sadi Guven told reporters. He said some of the district branches had already started rechecking ballots, most of which were votes that had been rejected as invalid. AKP officials had said there was a huge discrepancy between ballots cast at polling stations and data sent to election authorities. Istanbul, Turkeys largest city, was a key election prize for Erdogan and he presented former premier and loyalist Binali Yildirim to run as the party candidate for mayor. Erdogan, himself a former Istanbul mayor, had campaigned hard in the city. But the ruling party was stung by the economy with Turkey in recession for the first time in a decade and inflation in double digits. Istanbul was a tight race and both Yildirim and the opposition CHP candidate Ekrem Imamoglu declared victory when tallies showed them in a dead heat. Electoral authorities on Monday said Imamoglu was ahead by 28,000 votes with nearly all ballot boxes tallied, prompting AKP officials to challenge the result. The world is watching us, watching the results of our citys election, Imamoglu told reporters on Wednesday, asking that he be handed his mandate as soon as possible. I say clearly: Dont let Turkeys credibility be destroyed by 3 or 4 people acting like they are kids who had their toys taken away from them. But the AKP was fighting back. Deputy chairman Ali Ihsan Yavuz claimed the difference had now slipped to less than 20,000 votes between Imamoglu and Yildirim. Imamoglu had 48.79 percent of the votes while Yildirim had 48.52 percent, Anadolu news agency reported on Tuesday, citing preliminary results.