Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, told his supporters on Wednesday that candidates of the opposition parties that were elected in locals on Sunday vote were lame ducks, Oda TV news site reported .
Erdoğan returned from Ankara to Istanbul on Sunday night after a brief speech evaluating elections results, while the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) requested a recounting of votes in some districts in Istanbul and Ankara.
Erdoğan appeared for the first time in public on Wednesday, when he came to the new Çamlıca mosque in Istanbul for evening prayers. He was surrounded by his supporters who were protesting the election results, including one lady who said that she could not work under Imamoğlu in the Istanbul metropolitan municipality, which the Islamist parties have been running for the last 25 years.
“We have the majority,” said Erdoğan referring to local council results in Istanbul, adding that recounting of votes continued. “And even if that happens [the opposition wins] do you know what they are now, lame ducks,” he said.
The Turkish president on Wednesday evening also gathered with senior AKP officials and the party’s Istanbul mayoral candidate Binali Yıldırım to evaluate the local election results.