Turkish election body defends Istanbul re-vote, despite protests

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – People took to the streets of Istanbul on Wednesday night to protest the top electoral body’s decision to cancel the March 31 mayoral vote result in the city and order a new election.

“AKP is a thief and the election body their accomplice,” read a sign carried by a protester, referring to the ruling Justice and Development Party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “Hope is in the streets,” read another placard. “Nobody can stop a united nation,” a third proclaimed.

Turkey’s Supreme Election Council (YSK) announced its controversial decision on May 6 after weeks of deliberating a request from AKP to hold a new vote. The opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP)’s candidate Ekrem Imamoglu defeated AKP’s Binali Yildirim by a slim majority that dealt a major blow to the ruling party. YSK canceled the result citing problems with some officials at polling stations.

The decision was quickly met with backlash and allegations of political interference.

“Erdogan does not accept defeat and goes against the will of the people,” tweeted Kati Piri, the European parliament’s rapporteur for Turkey. “AKP pressured YSK to re-run local elections in Istanbul. This ends the credibility of democratic transition of power through elections in Turkey.”

The CHP demanded the electoral body apply the same regulations it used on the Istanbul election to other votes and annul Erdogan’s mandate. The YSK should also cancel the council elections that were held concurrent with the mayoral vote and won by AKP in Istanbul, said the party.

“If you’re revoking Ekrem Imamoglu’s mandate… then you must also annul President Erdogan’s mandate because the same laws, same regulations, same applications, same polling stations and conditions were present in both elections,” CHP Deputy Chairman Muharrem Erkek told reporters on Wednesday, Reuters reported. “Why are you not cancelling the results that came out of the same envelopes,” he asked of the election council.

CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu called YSK members who voted for the election re-run “gang members” acting under orders from AKP.

After the backlash, the body defended its decision. “It is unacceptable for judges to be smeared and personally made into targets due to their rulings,” the YSK said in a statement on Wednesday, Anadolu Agency reported.

Imamoglu and Yildirim have both said they will contest the new election, scheduled for June 23.

Erdogan has called the election do-over “an important step in strengthening Turkey’s democracy.”

In the Kurdish-majority southeast, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) said they have been locked out of some municipal buildings where they won the mayorship.

Police put up barricades around municipal offices in Cizre and Sirnak, HDP representative Huseyin Kacmaz tweeted on May 7. The party has not been told why they are denied access to the buildings, and fears the state is going to remove the elected HDP officials from their posts and replace them with AKP-aligned trustees, as it had done to tens of municipalities in 2016.

HDP’s former leaders and scores of members are facing terror charges stemming from allegations of ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). HDP denies the charges.

Turkish election body defends Istanbul re-vote, despite protests

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