Turkey’s electoral body has ordered that Istanbul’s local elections be re-held after a shock opposition victory in March, Turkish state media reported.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party questioned the slim win by the opposition CHP, claiming there were “irregularities and corruption”.
CHP deputy chair Onursal Adiguzel said the rerun showed it was “illegal to win against the AK Party”.
The vote will reportedly be rerun in the city on 23 June.
“This system that overrules the will of the people and disregards the law is neither democratic, nor legitimate,” Mr Adiguzel tweeted. “This is plain dictatorship.”
CHP candidate Ekrem Imamoglu was officially confirmed as Istanbul’s mayor by the authorities in April.
Mr Imamoglu said he would wait for official confirmation from the election board before making a statement.
An AKP representative to the electoral board initially made the announcement, though the board is yet to confirm the rerun.
Private news channel Haberturk reported that the board took the decision to hold the vote again because some ballot box officials were not civil servants.
