Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said electoral authorities should annul Istanbul’s local elections due to irregularities, notably over the appointment of ballot box officials, Sabah newspaper said on Wednesday.
Initial results show the main opposition Republican People’s Party narrowly won control of Turkey’s biggest city in the mayoral elections. The result would bring an end to the 25-year rule in the city by Erdogan’s AK Party and its Islamist predecessors.
Speaking to reporters on his plane, returning from Moscow this week, Erdogan said that regulations requiring that ballot box officials be civil servants had not been met everywhere, with regular workers placed in charge in some places, Reuters reports.
“Naturally all this casts doubt. If they take a sincere view, this will lead to annulment,” Erdogan was quoted s saying. AKP is demanding a new vote in Istanbul.