Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has confirmed that local elections in his country have entered the judicial process to present appeals for results after the vote has been completed, while the opposition said it is still ahead by a small margin in the Istanbul municipal elections.
Erdogan said in statements to reporters in Istanbul, "We entered the judicial process to submit appeals on the results," pointing out that the Turkish parties are the procedures of appeals, and this is a natural right.
On the appeals made by the People's Alliance, which includes the Justice and Development Party and the National Movement, Erdogan said that "if the electoral commission in Istanbul does not respond to our request, we will have the right to resort to the Supreme Electoral Commission," and pointed out that the overwhelming majority in the Istanbul municipal council, however.
Until now, the unofficial results of the local elections in Turkey indicate that the candidate of the Republican People Akram Emamoglu has stepped up his rival Ben Ali Yildirm to head the Istanbul municipality, while the AKP has raised objections to recounting votes in a number of districts.
People's Republican Party candidate Akram Emamoglu in Istanbul said in a tweet on Twitter that he was in the lead with a small margin of more than 18,000 votes, after the recount of the false votes in 17 neighborhoods in Istanbul was completed.
Earlier, Ihsan Yawoz, vice-chairman of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), revealed that 11,109 votes had been corrected for his party after a recount of 530 boxes in Istanbul.
In a related context, Erdogan criticized what he called the American and European intervention in the internal affairs of Turkey under the pretext of local elections in Turkey, commenting on Western statements on the local elections that took place on Sunday.
The Turkish president said that the United States and Europe are trying to interfere in Turkey's internal affairs, and they must stand by them.