'Istanbul re-vote derails Turkish democracy'

ANKARA

Turkey's opposition Good (IYI) Party leader said on Tuesday that the country's democracy had been derailed with the top election body's decision for a revote in Istanbul on June 23.

"Our democracy has been derailed once again [...] the national will has been ignored," Meral Aksener told her party's parliamentary group.

Aksener also criticized the the Supreme Election Council's (YSK) justification of the revote.

"There is no justification of a coup," she said.

Some 30,281 voters in 108 ballot boxes were declared invalid due to a lack of or unsigned counting sheets, YSK said in a statement.

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 and therefore raise questions on the validity of results.

The results of the March 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.

ANKARA

Turkey's opposition Good (IYI) Party leader said on Tuesday that the country's democracy had been derailed with the top election body's decision for a revote in Istanbul on June 23.

"Our democracy has been derailed once again [...] the national will has been ignored," Meral Aksener told her party's parliamentary group.

Aksener also criticized the the Supreme Election Council's (YSK) justification of the revote.

"There is no justification of a coup," she said.

Some 30,281 voters in 108 ballot boxes were declared invalid due to a lack of or unsigned counting sheets, YSK said in a statement.

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 and therefore raise questions on the validity of results.