ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party (AKP) on Monday claimed victory in mayoral elections in Istanbul once again, less than an hour after their candidate said his opposition rival was ahead in the vote count.

Speaking to reporters in Istanbul, Bayram Senocak, the AKP Istanbul provincial head, said his party had “plenty of” evidence showing irregularities in the votes and added that it was evident these irregularities had an impact on the outcome.