Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has questioned the results of Istanbul’s mayoral elections which his party candidate narrowly lost, saying that there had been “theft at the ballot box”.
Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) demanded a recount in the capital Ankara and Istanbul citing irregularities after tallies showed the party was defeated in both cities last week – in what would be a major setback in a decade and a half in power.
Erdogan’s remarks appeared to signal more AKP challenges over Istanbul, the country’s economic hub and largest city, echoing commentary in pro-government media denouncing a “ballot box putsch” during the March 31 election.
“We are seeing that some organised crimes have been carried out,” Erdogan said at a press conference before a trip to Russia, without giving details. “There is an element of robbery in all of this. There was some theft at the ballot box.”
Erdogan said that the margin between the two Istanbul candidates was too small for anyone to claim victory, suggesting that when there is a problem with a percentage of votes in other countries, appeals and even new elections were not unusual.
“No one has the right to declare themselves victorious with a difference of around 13,000-14,000 votes,” Erdogan said.
In Ankara yesterday, the Supreme Electoral Council officially handed opposition CHP candidate Mansur Yavas his mandate.
Erdogan’s AKP won most votes nationwide in the election, but voters appeared to punish the party in the two big cities with Turkey’s economy in recession and inflation in double digits after a currency crisis last year.
Defeat in Istanbul would be especially sensitive for Erdogan who grew up in one of its working-class districts and began his political career as the city’s mayor.
AKP’s candidate for Istanbul, former premier Binali Yildirim, and opposition CHP’s Ekrem Imamoglu, both declared victory soon after initial polling results showed a dead heat.
Electoral authorities later said that Imamoglu was winning by around 20,000 ballots, but that gap has narrowed during a week of recounting.
The difference is now less than 16,000 ballots.
The two candidates each received more than 4mn votes.
“The AKP is broadening its appeal in Istanbul every day. The next step could be asking to redo the election,” pro-government columnist Abdulkadir Selvi wrote in yesterday’s Hurriyet newspaper, but added that he did not think the election would be cancelled.
Imamoglu, a former mayor of one of the city’s local districts, has already declared himself Istanbul mayor and called on the AKP to accept the result.
The opposition appealed yesterday for electoral authorities to stay impartial.
“I appeal to the jurists at the Supreme Electoral Council: your independence and your objectivity are very important,” CHP party chief Kemal Kilicdaroglu said during a press conference.
AKP vice-president Ali Ihsan Yavuz said: “What we want is for the votes that were made in the ballot box to be recorded as they were actually made.”