Turkey's ruling party submits new petition to cancel Istanbul poll

ANKARA

Turkey’s ruling party has appealed to the country’s top election authority submitting a new petition including list of voters it deemed “ineligible” with a view to cancel and renew last month’s mayoral election in Istanbul.

Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy chairman Ali Ihsan Yavuz told Anadolu Agency that id 14,712 voters who were dismissed from public posts with a presidential decree were found out to have voted in Istanbul during March 31 local elections.

Yavuz said AKP submitted to Supreme Election Council (YSK) the petition with the list of voters as an attachment to their extraordinary appeal submitted on April 16.

Thousands of public employees were dismissed with government decrees for their alleged ties with terror groups during the state of emergency period after the July 15, 2016 failed coup attempt.

The YSK refused to give mandates to dismissed public employees who were elected mayors in the March 31 polls, arguing that their dismissal also ban them from having any public job.

Millions of Turkish voters cast their votes nationwide on March 31, in local elections to choose mayors, city council members, and other officials for the next five years.

Ekrem İmamoğlu of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) on April 17 officially took office as mayor of Istanbul after 17 days of vote counting and recounting, but his election still faces legal challenges from the AKP and its main ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

The YSK is expected to put an end to the legal saga in the week starting on April 22.