President Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party spent 80 million lira ($13 million) in three years on an Istanbul city website, the ousted opposition mayor said on Wednesday, part of what he said was a wider misspending of billions of lira of public money.
EkremImamoglu, from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), served lessthan three weeks as mayor after his narrow victory over the AKP in March wasannulled two weeks ago following appeals by Erdogan's party.
The decisionto re-run the vote on June 23 has brought international criticism andaccusations from Turkey's opposition of eroding democracy. It has also unnervedfinancial markets and thrown a spotlight on the AKP's management of Turkey'slargest city and commercial hub during its long years in power.
Preparingfor the second vote, Imamoglu has sought to highlight alleged extravagance andwaste under the AKP which, together with its Islamist predecessor parties, hasruled Istanbul with a budget of nearly $4 billion annually for a quartercentury.
"80million lira was spent on Istanbul municipality's website in three years,"Imamoglu told a news conference, setting the tone for his new campaign forelection in the re-run. "We could set up websites for all of Turkey'smunicipalities with this money."
An AK Partyelection official could not immediately be contacted for comment and theparty's spokesman did not address Imamoglu's claims in a news conference lateron Wednesday.
