ANKARA: Turkey's High Election Board ruled on Wednesday in favour of a recount in eight of Istanbul's 39 districts after an initial count showed the main opposition candidate earned a narrow victory in the city's local election.
President Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party submitted objections to election results in all districts of Turkey's commercial hub Istanbul and capital Ankara as initial results showed it was on course to lose control of both cities.
The election setback may complicate Erdogan's efforts to combat the economy's slide into recession.
The High Election Board (YSK) head said on Wednesday ruled overnight that the recount of what had been ruled as invalid votes should go ahead in the eight Istanbul districts, including some strongholds of the AK Party.
In Istanbul, the mayoral candidate of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Ekrem Imamoglu, and his AKP rival, ex-prime minister Binali Yildirim, both said on Monday Imamoglu was around 25,000 votes ahead. Istanbul's population is 15 million, according to official data.
The AKP filed challenges to results throughout the two cities after saying it would use its right to object to the results where there were voting irregularities, adding that errors at the ballots had affected the outcome.
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