Turkey’s top election body on Wednesday justified the Istanbul revote to be held on June 23.
“POLLING CLERKS WEREN’T CIVIL SERVANTS”
“Some 30,281 voters in 108 ballot boxes were declared invalid due to a lack of or unsigned counting sheets,” the Supreme Election Council (YSK) said in a statement. “The lack of counting sheets in 108 ballot boxes, which is one of the most important factors in determining the election results, seriously damages the reliability of the election results in these boxes,” it added.
Also polling clerks who were not civil servants served in 754 polling centers in the March 31 mayoral elections in Istanbul. The council said this unprecedented practice would affect the vote difference of 13,729 between the ruling and opposition alliances.
The results of the March Istanbul vote were canceled after the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party and its coalition partner Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) appealed, citing irregularities and contradictions with the country’s election law.
The mayoral certificate of Ekrem Imamoglu, the opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) candidate, was annulled by the YSK on May 6.
The election body also announced the overall official results of the March 31 local polls.
