Opposition party seeks overall rerun of Istanbul vote

By Aylin Sirikli

ANKARA (AA) - A Turkish opposition party on Wednesday asked the country’s election authority to cancel the results of not just Istanbul’s mayoral elections from March 31, but all the elections in the city held that day.

Hasan Seymen, deputy chair of the Good (IYI) Party, argued that as the mayoral election results were cancelled due to improper staffing of polling places, all the election results should be cancelled.

Turkey’s Supreme Election Council (YSK) on Monday cancelled the March 31 mayoral election results and ordered a do-over poll set for June 23.

In its decision, it said some polling officials and staff on March 31 were not civil servants as required by law.

Before the IYI Party petition, Turkey's main opposition Republican People’s Party's (CHP) also asked the election authority to cancel local poll results in all 39 districts of Istanbul, a metropolis of some 16 million people.

Millions of Turkish voters cast their votes nationwide on March 31 in local elections to choose mayors, city council members, and other officials for the next five years.

* Writing by Burak Bir