Ruling party officially contests Istanbul poll results

By

ISTANBUL

Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party on Tuesday officially challenged poll results in 39 districts of Istanbul, according to provincial head of the party on Tuesday.

"We have detected significant discrepancies among the tabulated results with wet signatures and stamps -- which shows the first vote record -- the final record and the total number of votes submitted to the YSK [Supreme Election Council]," Bayram Senocak, the Istanbul provincial head of AK Party told reporters.

Senocak said they submitted their documents at 3.00 p.m. local time (1200GMT) to contest the March 31 local election results in 39 districts of Istanbul.

"We have detected rigs and irregularities that violate the legislation and a fair election environment from the start of the voting process," Senocak said.

- March 31 local elections in Turkey

Millions of Turkish voters cast their votes nationwide Sunday in elections to choose Turkey’s mayors, city council members, mukhtars (neighborhood officials) and members of elder councils for the next five years.

Turkey's AK Party is leading in 15 metropolitan municipalities (larger cities), with 24 cities claimed by AK Party candidates, according to unofficial results.

The CHP’s Imamoglu, with 48.79 percent of the votes, has a narrow lead over Yildirim, with 48.51 percent for Istanbul mayorship.

Mansur Yavas, the CHP’s mayoral candidate in Ankara, is leading with 50.91 percent of votes, according to unofficial results, with the AK Party’s Mehmet Ozhaseki trailing at 47.1 percent.

*Writing by Sibel Morrow