Turkish election council presents district municipality won by CHP to AKP

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Turkey’s Supreme Election Council (YSK) has given the mayoral license to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) mayoral candidate in eastern Iğdır province’s Tuzluca district even though the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) won the local elections on March 31.

CHP’s mayoral candidate Cemal Kurnaz won the elections after garnering 30.64 percent of the votes against AKP's Ahmet Sait Sadrettin Türkan who received 28.27 percent.

After the elections, the AKP submitted objections to the local election boards; however, these objections were not accepted. On the other hand, the Supreme Election Council (YSK), the highest appeals authority for the election results, accepted AKP’s rejection and decided that CHP’s candidate “was not qualified for the elections.”

The YSK cited a dismissal sentence issued by the Iğdır Governor’s Office after the CHP candidate's retirement as a reason.

On the other hand, CHP stated that The Council of State, the highest administrative court in the country, overruled the decision of the governor’s office, but the YSK did not take this decision into consideration.

The protests that started in the district after the mayoral license was given to the AKP candidate have been continuing as of April 12, according to the ANKA news agency.

CHP voters marched in the city center with Turkish flags and chanted “justice.”

CHP made another appeal during the extraordinary objection process for the latest decision taken by the YSK. The extraordinary objection process started on April 7 and will continue until April 14.

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