Turkey's Erdogan says ruling AKP to 'correct shortcomings' after local polls

ISTANBUL: Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday his ruling AKP would "correct its shortcomings" after the party appeared set to lose power in the capital Ankara and faced a dead heat over Istanbul in local elections.

"If there are any shortcomings, it is our duty to correct them," Erdogan told thousands of supporters in Ankara. "Starting tomorrow morning, we will begin our work to identify our shortcomings and make up for them."

The Turkish leader did not directly mention the full election results there or in Istanbul. But said if his party had lost in Istanbul, they would still control the local district councils even if the opposition held the mayor's office.

His candidate for Istanbul, former premier Binali Yildirim earlier claimed he had won, but his opponent Ekrem Imamoglu said it was premature, with final results still being counted.

The AKP candidate had 48.71 percent of the votes with the opposition at 48.65 percent, according to Anadolu state news agency.

Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) have won every vote since the party first came to power in 2002, but this time, analysts said the party had risked losing Ankara and faced a tough fight in Istanbul as an economic slowdown took hold in Turkey.