Erdogan defends Istanbul moyaral election rerun

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says there was "illegality" in Istanbul's local elections after the country's electoral body ordered them to be re-held.

"We sincerely believe there is... organized corruption and complete illegality," he said on Tuesday.

Erdogan was defending the decision to re-run the 31 March vote, which returned a slim win for the opposition.

The decision to re-run last month's vote, which returned a slim win for the opposition, sparked protests on Monday. Hundreds of people gathered in several districts, banging pots and pans and shouting anti-government slogans.

Opposition candidate Ekrem Imamoglu, who has been stripped of his duties, described the move as "treacherous".

The European Parliament also said the decision would end the credibility of democratic elections in Turkey.

Speaking at a parliamentary meeting of his AK Party, Erdogan said that re-doing the vote was the "best step" for the country.

"We see this decision as the best step that will strengthen our will to solve problems within the framework of democracy and law," he said.

He insisted there was "illegality" in the vote and said a re-run would represent "an important step to strengthen our democracy".

He also said "thieves" had stolen the "national will" at the ballot box, adding that if they were not held to account "our people will demand an explanation from us".

An AKP representative on the electoral board, Recep Ozel, said the re-run was called because some electoral officials were not civil servants and some result papers had not been signed.

But CHP deputy chair Onursal Adiguzel said the re-run showed it was "illegal to win against the AK Party".

Adiguzel tweeted that the decision was "plain dictatorship".

"This system that overrules the will of the people and disregards the law is neither democratic, nor legitimate," he wrote.

Municipal elections took place across Turkey on 31 March and were seen as a referendum on Erdogan's leadership amid a sharp economic downturn.

Although an AKP Party-led alliance won 51% of the vote nationwide, the secularist CHP claimed victory in the capital Ankara, Izmir, and in Istanbul - where Erdogan had once been mayor.