Turkish President Recep Erdogan Is Calling For A New Election In Istanbul

Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 'almost everything was irregular' about Istanbul vote (Reuters/File photo)

Middle East Eye: Erdogan backs call to hold fresh elections in Istanbul amid voter fraud allegations

Turkish president's AK Party has not formally applied for a new vote in the city, where it narrowly lost recent election.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for the municipal election to be re-run in Istanbul, citing alleged voter irregularities and saying the opposition's 13,000 to 14,000 vote lead in the city was not enough for them to declare victory outright.

Erdogan's comments on Monday came as it became clear that his ruling party's previous demand, lodged to the Supreme Election Board (YSK), to hold a recount on votes that were deemed invalid in Istanbul, didn't have a significant effect on the results.

But the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has not formally filed an application to hold the elections again in Istanbul, where it was narrowly defeated in 31 March polls.

About 300,000 votes were declared invalid in the city for a variety of reasons, such as ripped ballots or ballots that had drawings on them.

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