Turkey’s former President Abdullah Gül on Tuesday expressed concern over the election board’s announcement to re-run the İstanbul mayoral election, likening the ruling to a Constitutional Court decision annulling his election as president by the Turkish parliament in 2007.
“It is a shame that we didn’t get too far,” Gül tweeted.
In 2007, although he was elected president by parliament, the Constitutional Court canceled the election due to a lack of votes from at least a two-thirds majority, or 367 deputies, a legal interpretation that had not previously been used.
The decision was largely evaluated as a reaction from the secular establishment to an Islamist politician becoming president.
Turkey’s Supreme Election Board (YSK) on Monday canceled the results of İstanbul’s mayoral election held on March 31, won by an opposition candidate, and announced that a new election would be held on June 23.
“I experienced the same feelings after the Supreme Election Board’s decision taken yesterday,” Gül said.
Following the parliamentary election in 2007, Gül had become president in a parliamentary vote in which the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) provided the two-thirds majority necessary for election.