Baku, Azerbaijan, May 7
By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:
Holding repeat municipal elections in Istanbul does not contradict the principles of democracy, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trend reports referring to Turkish media.
According to Erdogan, the results of the elections held on March 31 were rigged. The head of state said that Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) is obliged to hold fair and transparent elections on June 23, 2019.
On May 6, the YSK said that repeated municipal elections will be held in Istanbul on June 23.
On April 17, YSK officially announced the results of the municipal election in Istanbul. According to YSK, the candidate for the position of the head of the Istanbul municipality from the opposition Republican People’s Party Ekrem Imamoglu received 4.169 million votes, while the candidate from the Justice and Development Party Binali Yildirim received 4.156 million votes.
Turkey's Supreme Electoral Council issued a mandate to Ekrem Imamoglu for the position of the Head of the Istanbul municipality, while AKP recently officially appealed to YSK to hold the repeat elections in Istanbul.
Shortly after the elections, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the results of the municipal elections in Istanbul may be annulled.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of AKP Ali Ihsan Yavuz said that the ruling party demanded to hold new municipal elections in Istanbul.
He added that the ruling party had all the evidence of falsification of the election results.
The municipal election results in Istanbul were almost completely rigged, President Erdogan said earlier. He noted that the ruling Justice and Development Party appealed to YSK to identify the perpetrators. Meanwhile, the Justice and Development Party presented facts of falsification of 11,000 votes in Istanbul in favor of the candidate of the opposition Republican People’s Party Ekrem Imamoglu.
Thirteen political parties took part in the municipal elections held on 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).
It was reported that Imamoglu was leading the race with 4.159 million votes, while the candidate from the ruling party Binali Yildirim had 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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