Baku, Azerbaijan, April 1
By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:
The Turkish ruling Justice and Development Party has stated about the falsification of the results of the municipal elections in Istanbul, head of the Istanbul branch of the party Bayram Senocak said.
“The Justice and Development Party has evidence that the election results in Istanbul were falsified in favor of candidate of the opposition Republican People's Party Ekrem Imamoglu,” Senocak added, Trend reports referring to the Turkish media on April 1.
He stressed that the Justice and Development Party intends to protest the election results of the mayor of Istanbul.
According to the current information, Imamoglu is ahead of candidate of the ruling party Binali Yildirim on preliminary results of the municipal elections in Istanbul.
Imamoglu gained 4.159 million votes, while Yildirim got 4.131 million votes in Istanbul.
The coalition of the ruling party and the Nationalist Movement Party gained 51.67 percent of votes in the municipal elections throughout the country.
Following the elections, candidate of the Republican People’s Party Mansur Yavas became mayor of Ankara.
Thirteen political parties took part in the municipal elections. These included the Felicity Party (SP), the Independent Turkey Party (Bağımsız Türkiye Partisi), the Communist Party of Turkey (Türkiye Komünist Partisi), the Patriotic Party (Vatan Partisi), the Great Unity Party (Büyük Birlik Partisi), Free Cause Party (Hür Dava Partisi), Republican People’s Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi), Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi), Democratic Party (Demokrat Parti), Nationalist Movement Party (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi), Iyi Party (İYİ Parti), Peoples’ Democratic Party (Halkların Demokratik Partisi) and Democratic Left Party (Demokratik Sol Parti).
Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan nominated the candidacy of ex-Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekci for the post of the head of the Izmir municipality, as well as the candidacy of Binali Yildirim for the post of the head of the Istanbul municipality.
Municipal elections are held every 5 years in Turkey.
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