Following the cancellation of the election results in Istanbul, the opposition also calls for other elections to be annulled – including the 2018 presidential election. The AKP is critical of the electoral authority.
The Turkish opposition party CHP is responding with its own demands to the cancellation of the election results in Istanbul: the party has in turn submitted an application for the cancellation of the presidential and parliamentary elections of 2018 – then, among other things, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was re-elected.
CHP Vice-Chairman Muharrem Erkek also said that not only the grand elections of the past year should be annulled, but also all other ballots of this year’s local election, such as the district mayors. Erdogan’s governing party AKP had won many posts in these ballots. Erkek said the CHP petition was received by the YSK electoral authority.
„A fight for democracy“
The AKP had previously made such a request regarding the mayoral election in Istanbul, which the CHP candidate Ekrem Imamoglu had narrowly won. The electoral commission decided to re-elect on 23 June. In support of its decision to re-elect, the authorities stated that not all the helpers at the ballot boxes were civil servants – but that was the rule.
Erkek now said that following this logic, not only the new CHP mayor of Istanbul but also President Erdogan would have to be deprived of the mandate. „If you say that there were disagreements in the regional election, that also applies to the elections of June 24 (2018),“ he said. „Ten thousand people who were not civil servants were on 24 June.“ At the same time, he stressed that there was no evidence that the presence of non-officials in the polling stations had affected the outcome. The opposition has no confidence in the electoral commission. „This is a fight for democracy, it’s not about the CHP or Imamoglu.“
It is not expected that the electoral authority will grant the request – if only because the deadline for appeals following the municipal elections has passed. However, the move is likely to exacerbate tensions between the camps.
Criticism also from the AKP
Meanwhile, there are also ranks of ruling AKP party criticized the decision of the Electoral Commission on Istanbul. Late Tuesday evening, ex-prime minister and AKP member Ahmet Davutoglu and ex-president Abdullah Gül spoke in tweets. Fair elections are an anchor of democracy and citizens‘ sense of belonging, wrote Davutoglu. And he further criticized: „The decision of the YSK contradicts the law and established practices and violates this feeling.“
