Turkey's opposition called Sunday for an annulment of last weekend's mayoral vote in the capital Ankara, alleging fraud by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). The Ankara electoral board had on Friday rejected a bid for a recount by the Republican People's Party (CHP) of last Sunday's poll, which was narrowly won by the AKP incumbent.
The CHP challenger Mansur Yavas slammed the vote as "the most dubious in the country's history". "It is our holy duty to protect Ankara's votes and will. We are here to defeat the dark shadow cast over our democracy," he told a news conference Sunday.
He said his party was prepared to take the issue to the Constitutional Court and even the European Court of Human Rights if necessary. The Islamic-rooted AKP scored significant victories across Turkey, winning the key prizes of Ankara and Istanbul, in the municipal elections seen as a referendum on the 11-year-rule of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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