Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party is seeking a recount of vote totals cast in a local election in Istanbul, the region where the AK Party lose control against the main opposition party after decades, a senior party official has said on Sunday.
According to Reuters news reports, the AK party has already appealed the initial vote results in all 39 districts of the city of 15 million people, leading to the partial or full recounts across Turkey’s largest city.
AKP deputy party chairman Ali Ihsan Yavuz has said that in the original counting there was “organized misconduct”, and that the party will make an appeal to the high election body (YSK) for all Istanbul votes to be recounted.
In a televised comment on Sunday, Ali told reporters, “We chose the path to eliminate numerical mistakes. But it’s not over.”
Erdogan has on last Sunday suffered a major setback as his ruling AK party was defeated in a local election and lost control over the capital Ankara for the first time ever, and he appeared to agree his defeat in Istanbul, the country’s largest city.
According to Reuters news reports, Erdogan, dominating Turkish politics since last 16 years, has campaigned relentlessly for two months ahead of the Sunday’s voting, what he has described as the “matter of survival” for the country.
But however, Erdogan’s media coverage and rallies failed to win over Ankara or not securing a definitive total in Istanbul’s vote.