Turkey: Opposition criticizes re-run of Istanbul polls

ANKARA

Turkey’s main opposition party leader on Tuesday said "very good things" would happen over the top election board’s decision to re-run election for Istanbul metropolitan mayorship.

"Very good things will happen; nobody should be worried. We will bring democracy to this country […]," Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu told journalists in the capital Ankara.

"Our fight will be for democracy," Kilicdaroglu added.

On Monday, Turkey’s Supreme Election Council (YSK) announced that a do-over election in Istanbul will be held on June 23.

The council accepted the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party's objection to the local election results in Istanbul with seven votes in favor and four against.

Monday’s decision of the YSK was also on the agenda of Kilicdaroglu while addressing the parliamentary group meeting of his party.

“Ekrem Imamoglu is not [only] the candidate of CHP, he is the candidate of 16 million Istanbul citizens for the metropolitan municipality from now on,” Kilicdaroglu said.

They will fight against any injustice if there is, he added.

“The conscience and common sense of people is above all,” Kilicdaroglu stressed.

CHP's Imamoglu took oath as mayor of Istanbul last month, amid AK Party's agitation over voting irregularities.

His mayoral certificate was cancelled by the YSK after it ruled for a do-over in the metropolitan municipality poll of Istanbul.

The YSK said the decision was based on the fact that some ballot committee members presiding over ballot boxes in the province during at the elections were not civil servants as is required by law.

Opposition Good (IYI) Party leader Meral Aksener also criticized the decision, saying: "I’m ashamed to be a party head who is left in a position to seek democracy in Turkey in the 21st century."

Aksener told her party’s parliamentary group meeting that she would continue to carry the banner of democracy.