Local re-run elections on Sunday reversed the outcome of the March 31 elections in two out of four provinces, the Hürriyet Daily News reported.
The March 31 local election results were annulled in the Keskin district of central Kırıkkale province, the Yusufeli district of northeastern Artvin province, the Honaz district of in the Aegean province of Denizli and in the Kesmetepe township in southeastern Adıyaman province.
Votes were recast on Sunday, changing the outcomes in Keskin and Kesmetepe. The outcomes for Yusufeli and Honaz remained the same.
Ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) candidate Dede Yıldırım won in Keskin, edging out the İYİ (Good) Party candidate who had won by a margin of six votes on March 31. The re-run, ordered by the Supreme Election Board (YSK), was based on an AKP objection claiming that citizens deemed ineligible to participate had improperly cast votes in the election.
In Kesmetepe, unofficial results show Democratic Left Party (DSP) candidate Ali Yılmaz has won the election. Yılmaz had the least votes (a total of 242) in the March 31 election compared to the other two candidates from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Democratic Party (DP), who tied with 281 votes each.
In Yusufeli, AKP candidate Eyüp Aytekin repeated his victory of March 31, according to unofficial results.
Aytekin previously won the election by three votes. After the CHP challenged the outcome, the YSK detected two voters under legal disability had improperly cast votes in the district.
Main opposition CHP candidate Yüksel Kepenek also won in Honaz for a second time.
In the March 31 election, according to unofficial results, Kepenek won the mayor’s race in the town of Honaz with 9,389 votes, eight votes more than the AKP candidate.
After the AKP objected to the regional election board, a recount of 41 ballot boxes narrowed the difference to three votes but did not change the outcome.
Objections by both parties led to a recount of invalid votes, narrowing the vote margin to a single ballot. When a discrepancy between the number of votes and eligible voters emerged, the AKP filed another objection, leading the election authority to order fresh polls.