Turkish Ruling Party Files Appeal Against Istanbul Election Results – Reports

ANKARA (Sputnik) – Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) filed on Tuesday an appeal with the Supreme Election Council against the results of the recent mayoral election in the country’s biggest city of Istanbul, the Anadolu news agency reported.

"We have suspicions [about Istanbul’s elections] and we still were not able to resolve these doubts," AKP deputy head Ali Ihsan Yavuz said, as quoted by the news agency.

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This comes after earlier in the day, the move was announced by Yavuz, who explained the need to appeal against the results of the mayoral election by alleged multiple violations of voting procedures.

Turkish citizens voted in municipal elections on 31 March, choosing new mayors of cities, municipal leaders, heads of villages and members of village councils, among others.

According to the preliminary results of the mayoral election in Istanbul, AKP's Binali Yildirim lost to Ekrem Imamoglu, the candidate from the Republican People's Party, by a narrow margin.

Following the vote, the Turkish Election Board launched a recount after an appeal was submitted by the AKP. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has claimed that many votes had been stolen from AKP during the voting in Istanbul.