Istanbul: Main opposition party seeks full revote polls

By Aylin Sirikli and Mehmet Tosun

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's main opposition party on Wednesday appealed to Turkey’s election authority to cancel local poll results in all 39 districts in Istanbul.

The move comes after the Supreme Election Council’s (YSK) decision on Monday for a do-over election for only the mayoral race of Istanbul.

The top election board cancelled the Istanbul polls after the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party and opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) appealed to the YSK over the results of the Istanbul polls, pointing to irregularities and contradictions with the country's election law.

According to the council, the decision was taken due to some ballot committee members who served during the elections not being civil servants as required by law.

The mayoral certificate of the main opposition Republican People’s Party's (CHP) Ekrem Imamoglu was also cancelled by the YSK.

Speaking to reporters after the decision, Muharrem Erkek, deputy head of the Republican People's Party (CHP), said the party filed an objection with the YSK to cancel the results in 39 districts of Istanbul to revote for municipal council members, mukhtars and members of elderly councils due to the "full illegality" during the elections.

The party also filed an objection to cancel last year's presidential and parliamentary elections on June 24 for the same reasons.

On June 24, 2018, Turkey held presidential and parliamentary elections which resulted in President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's victory as a president and his AK Party in the parliament.

Erkek said the YSK ruling to renew the Istanbul municipal polls contradicted with the previous YSK decisions as they had been made in line with the same election law in force on March 13, 2018, upon the demand of the ruling AK Party.

"Both elections were made based on the same law, the same circulars and the same practices. If you say, 'There were organized irregularities in the local elections in Istanbul and there are doubts [on the results, since] people who are not civil servants served on ballot boxes,' the same thing happened on June 24.

"So, if something really did take place, it did so on June 24. If Ekrem Imamoglu's election is suspect, then the election of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on June 24 was as well," Erkek said.

Erkek said neither voters, nor political parties or candidates were involved in choosing the people who presided over the ballot boxes.

"These procedures are carried out by district election boards under the supervision of the YSK. Did Ekrem Imamoglu decide on the chairman and members of the ballot box [committees] serving in Istanbul?" Erkek said, adding that the move to redo the elections in Istanbul ignored the will of voters.