Supreme Electoral Board cancels Istanbul elections upon demand from AK Party

TURKEY IS IN SHOCK! Evaluating the objections of the ruling AK Party and its partner MHP (National Movement Party) Supreme Electoral Board (YSK) of Turkey has taken a decision to cancel Istanbul local elections won by opposition party CHP (Republican People’s Party).

The elections were held on 31 March 2019 and the opposition alliance (called Millet Alliance) had achieved great success winning some major cities to include Istanbul in the first place and others such as Ankara, Izmir, Antalya, Adana and Mersin.

The results were definitely a shock for Ak Party and its leader ERDOGAN (president at the same time) and right after results were obtained the ruling party tried all alternatives to see cancellation of Istanbul elections.

YSK was observed to have been under pressure (to include statements by top officials from Ak Party and the government and publicity designed/created by the media under AK Party control) from the ruling front and it seems the BOARD was not able to cope with this pressure, taking decision in the direction of renewing the Istanbul elections.

Today at about 20:00 pm AKP’s YSK representative announced that the Istanbul elections would be renewed in Istanbul. The decision was taken by 7 votes against 4 votes. It was also announced that new elections would be held on June 23rd.

This decision by the YSK will certainly be recorded as a very important note in history of Turkey and democracy as well as the fact that it has been one-of-a-kind decision that will most likely draw the attention of the democratic world globally as well. This unlucky picture will be a challenge Turkey will have to face, in the eyes of the democratic world.