ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AKP on Tuesday appealed against the results in Istanbul after this weekend's elections citing what it called "excessive" irregularities.
Sunday's municipal vote delivered a setback to Erdogan after preliminary tallies showed the AKP lost the capital and the economic hub Istanbul after a decade and a half in power.
Erdogan's AKP and coalition partner won more than 50 percent of the votes nationwide, but defeat in two key cities would be a blow after Turkey slipped into recession for the first time in a decade.
The AKP appeal with electoral authorities, who have two days to decide whether it has any merit, may signal further challenges from the ruling party to opposition victories in the two key cities.
"We have filed our objections with the electoral authorities in all 39 districts," AKP's Istanbul district chief Bayram Senocak told reporters. "We have identified irregularities and falsifications."
He said the party had found an "excessive" difference between votes cast at ballot stations for their candidate and the data sent to electoral authorities.
Istanbul, the largest city in the country, was a key prize for Erdogan and he had fielded his former premier and loyalist Binali Yildirim as candidate for mayor.
But Istanbul was a tight race and both Yildirim and the opposition CHP candidate Ekrem Imamoglu claimed victory in the early hours of Monday.
Electoral authorities on Monday announced Imamoglu was ahead by 28,000 votes with nearly all ballot boxes tallied, prompting AKP officials to challenge to the result.
Imamoglu had 48.79 percent of the votes while Yildirim had 48.52 percent, Anadolu state news agency reported on Tuesday, citing preliminary results.
Imamoglu on Tuesday travelled to Ankara to lay a wreath at the mausoleum of modern Turkey's founder Musfafa Kemal Ataturk in a highly symbolic gesture Erdogan often does himself soon after his election wins.
"Had the other party won, I would have said 'congratulations Mr Binali Yildirim', which I do not say because I am the one who won," Imamoglu told reporters.
"They are behaving like a kid who has been deprived of his toy."
AKP party spokesman Omer Celik on Monday had said they had found discrepancies between reports from polling stations and vote counts in both Ankara and Istanbul.
Erdogan, himself a former Istanbul mayor, had campaigned hard in the city. But the ruling party may have been stung by the economy with Turkey in recession for the first time since 2009 and inflation in double digits.
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Erdogan's AKP challenges Istanbul results in Turkey election
Erdogan's AKP challenges Istanbul results in Turkey election
- Sunday's municipal vote delivered a setback to Erdogan after preliminary tallies showed the AKP lost the capital
Israel’s Netanyahu agrees to join Trump’s Board of Peace
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel says he’s agreed to join Trump’s Board of Peace. Netanyahu made the announcement Wednesday from his office
- The announcement came after Israel said the makeup of the Board’s Gaza executive body did not align with Israel’s interests
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said Wednesday he had agreed to join US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, after his office earlier criticized makeup of the board’s executive committee.
The board, chaired by Trump, was originally envisioned as a small group of world leaders overseeing the Gaza ceasefire plan. The Trump administration’s ambitions have appeared to balloon into a more sprawling concept, with Trump extending invitations to dozens of nations and hinting it will soon broker global conflicts.
Netanyahu’s office had previously said the executive committee — which includes Turkiye, a key regional rival — wasn’t coordinated with the Israeli government and “is contrary to its policy,” without clarifying its objections. Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has criticized the board and called for Israel to take unilateral responsibility for Gaza’s future.
Others who have joined the board are the UAE, Morocco, Vietnam, Belarus, Hungary, Kazakhstan and Argentina. Others, including the UK, Russia and the executive arm of the European Union, say they have received invitations but have not yet responded.
It came as Trump traveled to the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where he is expected to provide more details about the board. There are many unanswered questions. It was not immediately clear how many or which other leaders would receive invitations.
When asked by a reporter Tuesday if the board should replace the UN, Trump said, “It might.” He asserted that the world body “hasn’t been very helpful” and “has never lived up to its potential” but also said the UN should continue ”because the potential is so great.”
That has created controversy, with some saying Trump is trying to replace the UN French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Tuesday, “Yes to implementing the peace plan presented by the president of the United States, which we wholeheartedly support, but no to creating an organization as it has been presented, which would replace the United Nations.”
Told late Monday that French President Emmanuel Macron was unlikely to join, Trump said, “Well, nobody wants him because he’s going to be out of office very soon.” A day later, Trump called Macron “a friend of mine” but reiterated that the French leader is “not going to be there very much longer.”
The executive board’s members include US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, World Bank President Ajay Banga, and Trump’s deputy national security adviser Robert Gabriel.
The White House also announced the members of another board, the Gaza Executive Board, which, according to the ceasefire, will be in charge of implementing the tough second phase of the agreement. That includes deploying an international security force, disarming Hamas and rebuilding the war-devastated territory.
Nickolay Mladenov, a former Bulgarian politician and UN Mideast envoy, is to serve as the Gaza executive board’s representative overseeing day-to-day matters. Additional members include: Witkoff, Kushner, Blair, Rowan, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan; Qatari diplomat Ali Al-Thawadi; Hassan Rashad, director of Egypt’s General Intelligence Agency; Emirati minister Reem Al-Hashimy; Israeli businessman Yakir Gabay; and Sigrid Kaag, the Netherlands’ former deputy prime minister and a Mideast expert.
The board also will supervise a newly appointed committee of Palestinian technocrats who will be running Gaza’s day-to-day affairs.
The board, chaired by Trump, was originally envisioned as a small group of world leaders overseeing the Gaza ceasefire plan. The Trump administration’s ambitions have appeared to balloon into a more sprawling concept, with Trump extending invitations to dozens of nations and hinting it will soon broker global conflicts.
Netanyahu’s office had previously said the executive committee — which includes Turkiye, a key regional rival — wasn’t coordinated with the Israeli government and “is contrary to its policy,” without clarifying its objections. Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has criticized the board and called for Israel to take unilateral responsibility for Gaza’s future.
Others who have joined the board are the UAE, Morocco, Vietnam, Belarus, Hungary, Kazakhstan and Argentina. Others, including the UK, Russia and the executive arm of the European Union, say they have received invitations but have not yet responded.
It came as Trump traveled to the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where he is expected to provide more details about the board. There are many unanswered questions. It was not immediately clear how many or which other leaders would receive invitations.
When asked by a reporter Tuesday if the board should replace the UN, Trump said, “It might.” He asserted that the world body “hasn’t been very helpful” and “has never lived up to its potential” but also said the UN should continue ”because the potential is so great.”
That has created controversy, with some saying Trump is trying to replace the UN French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Tuesday, “Yes to implementing the peace plan presented by the president of the United States, which we wholeheartedly support, but no to creating an organization as it has been presented, which would replace the United Nations.”
Told late Monday that French President Emmanuel Macron was unlikely to join, Trump said, “Well, nobody wants him because he’s going to be out of office very soon.” A day later, Trump called Macron “a friend of mine” but reiterated that the French leader is “not going to be there very much longer.”
The executive board’s members include US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, World Bank President Ajay Banga, and Trump’s deputy national security adviser Robert Gabriel.
The White House also announced the members of another board, the Gaza Executive Board, which, according to the ceasefire, will be in charge of implementing the tough second phase of the agreement. That includes deploying an international security force, disarming Hamas and rebuilding the war-devastated territory.
Nickolay Mladenov, a former Bulgarian politician and UN Mideast envoy, is to serve as the Gaza executive board’s representative overseeing day-to-day matters. Additional members include: Witkoff, Kushner, Blair, Rowan, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan; Qatari diplomat Ali Al-Thawadi; Hassan Rashad, director of Egypt’s General Intelligence Agency; Emirati minister Reem Al-Hashimy; Israeli businessman Yakir Gabay; and Sigrid Kaag, the Netherlands’ former deputy prime minister and a Mideast expert.
The board also will supervise a newly appointed committee of Palestinian technocrats who will be running Gaza’s day-to-day affairs.
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