Iran Press/Asia: Turkey’s main opposition party said on Wednesday it had formally requested the annulment of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s mandate because of the same flaws his Party alleged in March 31 mayoral vote occurred in last year’s national elections, Reuters reported.
The Republican People’s Party (CHP) also said votes for Istanbul officials and councils, submitted in the same envelopes as the mayoral election, should be canceled if the mayoral vote is re-run.
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) won a majority in the councils.
After weeks of appeals by the AKP and their nationalist MHP allies, Turkey’s High Election Board (YSK) ruled on Monday for a re-run of the Istanbul mayoral election, which was dramatically won by the CHP’s Ekrem Imamoglu with a razor-thin majority.
It was the first time in 25 years that the AKP or its Islamist predecessors had failed to win control of Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city with a budget of close to $4 billion. Erdogan launched his own political career as Istanbul mayor.
In its ruling, which also annulled Imamoglu’s mandate, the YSK cited irregularities in the appointment of polling station officials.
Erdogan’s party said the fact that individuals who were not public servants had been appointed to the polling stations amounted to organized crime.
However, the YSK left results for district administrators, municipal councils and local officials unchanged, a decision which the CHP said was nonsense because all four votes were cast in the same envelopes and counted by the same polling officials. 208/104
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Turkey's Supreme Election Council orders Istanbul election re-run
