Turkey’s Supreme Election Board (YSK) has turned down a request from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) for a recount of all votes in 31 İstanbul districts where the AKP’s mayoral candidate lost the election, according to unofficial results, the T24 news website reported on Monday evening.
Turkey held local elections on March 31. Although Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate for mayor of İstanbul Ekrem İmamoğlu received more votes than AKP candidate Binali Yıldırım according to preliminary results announced by the YSK, he has not yet been declared the winner because the AKP has been objecting the election results and asking for a recount of votes for a week.
According to the YSK decision, the votes in 31 out of 39 districts of İstanbul will not be recounted contrary to what was requested by the AKP.
The AKP representative to the YSK, Recep Özel, however, said the YSK agreed to a recount of votes in 51 ballot boxes in 21 districts of İstanbul.
Özel also said the YSK would make a decision later about the AKP’s demand for the cancellation of elections in İstanbul’s Büyükçekmece district. The AKP claims voters were illegally registered in Büyükçekmece and thus the election should be re-held.