Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16
By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:
The Turkish ruling Justice and Development Party has officially appealed to the country's CEC to hold the repeat elections in Istanbul, deputy chairman of the ruling party Ali Ihsan Yavuz said.
“The ruling party provided all the facts about the rigging of the election results in a number of Turkish cities, including Istanbul,” Yavuz added, Trendreports referring to the Turkish media on April 16.
“This step of the ruling party does not contradict the country’s laws,” he added.
Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the results of the municipal elections in Istanbul may be annulled.
Meanwhile, Yavuz said that the ruling party demands to hold the repeat municipal elections in Istanbul.
He added that the ruling party has all the evidence of falsification of the election results.
“The ruling party will present all the facts of falsification of the election results in Istanbul soon,” he said.
The municipal election results in Istanbul were almost completely rigged, President Erdogan said earlier.
He noted that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) appealed to the Turkish Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) to identify the perpetrators.
Meanwhile, the Justice and Development Party presented facts of falsification of 11,000 votes in Istanbul in favour of the candidate of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Ekrem Imamoglu.
Thirteen political parties took part in the municipal elections held March 31. 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).
Imamoglu gained 4.159 million votes, while candidate from the ruling party Binali 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.
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