ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey’s High Election Board (YSK) ruled to hold renewed Istanbul mayoral elections on June 23, it said in a statement late on Monday.

The board ruled to annul and re-run the election due to some ballot box committees being formed against the law by district election boards, the statement showed. The YSK also ruled to file a criminal complaint against those district election board officials who had appointed the ballot box officials.</s>Protests have taken place in Istanbul over the decision to re-run the city's mayoral elections on 23 June.

Turkey's ruling AKP party narrowly lost the vote, and claimed there had been "irregularities and fraud", but the claim was dismissed by the victorious CHP.</s>ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey’s main opposition party said on Tuesday its candidate for Istanbul mayor would again contest and win the post, after the election board ordered a re-run of the city election in a ruling that has spooked investors and drawn European criticism.

President Tayyip Erdogan had pushed hard for the re-run after his ruling AK Party (AKP) lost control of Turkey’s biggest city in the March 31 poll and he welcomed the High Election Board’s (YSK) decision. But one opposition leader compared it to a “civilian coup” and Germany urged Ankara to respect democracy.

Highlighting the risks of a re-run for Erdogan and the AKP, several smaller opposition parties who fielded their own candidates in the March poll signaled that this time round they could back the ousted mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), a potentially significant move given the tight margin of his original victory.

CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu accused the YSK of betraying voters’ trust and giving in to AKP pressure.

“Since you want to renew the elections so badly, do so as much as you want. We will emerge victorious every time,” he told CHP lawmakers in the Turkish parliament.

Meral Aksener, leader of the nationalist IYI (Good) Party, which formed an alliance with Imamoglu’s secularist CHP for the March vote, said the ruling by the seven judges of the YSK harked back to the era of Turkish military coups.

“The YSK’s decision amounts to a civilian coup which surpasses the days of the uniformed coups,” she said.

MARKET JITTERS

The decision helped push the lira to its weakest level since Oct. 5, when it was just emerging from last year’s currency crisis that saw 30 percent of the currency’s value wiped out. It stood at 6.1467 to the dollar at 1412 GMT.

With investors questioning Turkey’s commitment to both the rule of law and economic reforms during a recession, bonds and stocks were also sold off on Tuesday.

Erdogan brushed aside investors’ concerns, telling his AKP lawmakers on Tuesday that the YSK decision was “an important step to strengthen our democracy”.

“There was organized corruption and full illegality in the Istanbul mayoral elections,” said Erdogan, adding that former prime minister Binali Yildirim would again be the AKP candidate for the post.

Turkish President TayyipÊErdoganÊgreets members of his ruling AK Party (AKP) as he arrives at a meeting at theÊparliamentÊin Ankara, Turkey, May 7, 2019. Cem Oksuz/Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS

Imamoglu’s surprise victory in the March poll - by a margin of just 13,000 votes, out of 10 million eligible voters - had marked the first time in 25 years that Erdogan’s AKP or its Islamist predecessors had failed to win control of Istanbul.

But Erdogan - who started his political career in the 1990s as mayor of Istanbul - said that, in such a tight race, “no one has the right to say they won” and repeatedly challenged the result.

Control of the city has more than symbolic value. The mayor oversees a budget estimated this year at 24 billion lira ($3.9 billion), in a city which accounts for about a third of Turkey’s economic output.

Germany’s foreign minister, Heiko Maas, said the YSK move was neither transparent nor comprehensible, adding that basic democratic principles and transparency were paramount.

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), the third biggest party in parliament, said it would repeat its policy in March of not contesting the Istanbul election, a decision which helped Imamoglu.

Two other smaller parties, the Islamist Saadet (Felicity) Party and the Democratic Left Party signaled they might also stand aside in favor of Imamoglu.

Edward Parker, managing director at Fitch Ratings, said the re-run risked distracting from the authorities’ need to rebalance and stabilize the economy.

Slideshow (3 Images)

Fitch last week reaffirmed Turkey’s sovereign rating at ‘BB’ with a negative outlook, but Parker said it could be downgraded if “existing weaknesses are aggravated, especially given the volatility in the Turkish economy and currency.”

The dispute over the Istanbul election and the economic uncertainty come as the United States threatens to impose sanctions on Turkey, a NATO ally, over its planned purchase of Russian S-400 missile defense systems.</s>The decision by Turkish authorities to wipe away a stinging defeat for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and rerun the election for mayor of Istanbul left the opposition angered but determined on Tuesday to win the race a second time.

Ekrem Imamoglu, the opposition candidate who narrowly won the March 31 election, only to have that victory annulled on Monday, announced on Tuesday that he would run again, and rallied his supporters by retweeting a message from his party’s Twitter account that said, “We will win again.”

The move by Mr. Erdogan to overturn the election results quickly reverberated through Turkey and beyond. Sporadic protests broke out Monday evening after the announcement, and the lira, a barometer of the way foreign investors regard the country, declined sharply on Tuesday — down 5 percent from earlier in the week.

The decision by the High Electoral Council, which cited irregularities in how officials were chosen to oversee voting at some polling stations, left the opposition with the difficult decision of whether to take part in a new election that it considers illegitimate.</s>Protests have taken place in Istanbul over the decision to re-run the city's mayoral elections on 23 June.

Turkey's ruling AKP party narrowly lost the vote, and claimed there had been "irregularities and fraud", but the claim was dismissed by the victorious CHP.</s>Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday welcomed an order to re-run the recent Istanbul election, a move the opposition has branded an attack on democracy.

His ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost the mayorship of Turkey's biggest city by a narrow margin and has refused to accept defeat.

"We sincerely believe there was organised corruption and irregularities," Erdogan told party members in parliament on Tuesday, saying the re-run was the "best step" for the country.

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has condemned Monday's decision by the top election body to re-run the vote as "neither democratic nor legitimate".

Its candidate, Ekrem Imamoglu, who has been stripped of the mayorship after winning the March 31 election, was meeting coalition partners on Tuesday to discuss their strategy.

The loss of Istanbul, the country's economic hub, had been a shocking defeat for Erdogan's ruling party.

The AKP and its predecessors have ruled the city for 25 years, and it was especially sensitive for Erdogan, who grew up in the metropolis and rose to power after himself serving as Istanbul mayor.

Imamoglu, a softly-spoken former district mayor, gave a rousing speech to thousands of supporters in Istanbul late Monday, vowing they would emerge even stronger after the re-run on June 23.

"Maybe you are upset but never lose your hope," he said, while thousands more took to the streets of the chic Kadikoy district to protest against the election board.

"This is the collapse of the declining democracy in Turkey. The coming process is condemned to be even worse," said 60-year-old shopkeeper Ali Yamac in central Istanbul.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Tuesday that the decision to annul the election was "not transparent and incomprehensible to us".

The European Union has called for the election body to produce its reasons "without delay".

"Ensuring a free, fair and transparent election process is essential to any democracy and is at the heart of the European Union's relations with Turkey," EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement on Monday.

The loss of the mayorship in Istanbul, and a more resounding defeat in the capital Ankara, was a rare setback for Erdogan and his party, reflecting widespread concerns over the deteriorating economy.

The AKP still won the most seats nationwide, but has been damaged by Turkey's first recession in a decade, as well as record-high inflation and a currency that has lost more than 12 percent of its value against the dollar this year alone.

Erdogan's critics say he has eroded rights by cracking down on dissent at home but for his supporters he maintains the image of a strong leader who speaks up for Turkey in the international arena.

The defeated mayoral candidate, former prime minister Binali Yildirim, a close Erdogan ally, said he hoped the re-run would "be beneficial for our city".

The US-based think tank the Soufan Center said the YSK decision marked "serious concerns" for the future of democracy in Turkey.

"Given restrictions on freedom of speech and Turkey's increasingly less independent judiciary, the recent election meddling is a clear signal to the Turkish people, and the world, that Erdogan is willing to pursue absolute power at any cost."</s>Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan praised a decision to repeat Istanbul’s mayoral election, which his party narrowly lost, saying a rerun would remove the pall cast over the March vote by allegations of “organised corruption”.

The Supreme Electoral Council late on Monday nullified the results of the March 31st poll in which the opposition’s Ekrem Imamoglu defeated the ruling party’s candidate by about 13,000 votes. A new election will be held on June 23rd.

On Tuesday the Turkish lira fell to its lowest level since October while the country’s bonds came under pressure, as the controversial decision to annul the election results sharpened investor concerns.

Mr Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) had contested the Istanbul poll result, claiming voter fraud and other irregularities. The president told members of his party that he had initially been prepared to accept the result but that a series of recounts in the ensuing weeks revealed that “15,000 AKP voters’ electoral will had been usurped”.

“I sincerely believe there was organised corruption and full illegalities and irregularities in the Istanbul municipality election,” said Mr Erdogan.

The decision to rerun the mayoral election outraged the opposition, with the head of Mr Imamoglu’s Republican People’s party (CHP) accusing the electoral board members of colluding with the AKP. “You are destroying the rule of law and justice. With this decision, they rejected the people’s will. They were unable to prove that a single voter committed fraud,” said Kemal Kilicdaroglu, CHP chairman.

Meral Aksener, head of the opposition Good party that backed Mr Imamoglu, said the decision to nullify the March vote amounted to “theft”.

A number of smaller parties, including the conservative Felicity party which won about 100,000 votes in the disputed poll, also expressed support for Mr Imamoglu, signalling they could withdraw their candidates from the rerun election.

Tusiad, Turkey’s largest business group, said the rerun would distract from efforts to rescue the country’s economy from recession. “During a time when we need to be focused on an agenda of comprehensive economic and democratic reforms, a return to an election environment is worrisome,” it said on Twitter.

Mr Erdogan lashed out at members of the business community for their “strange” remarks after the election body’s ruling. “If you work in the economy or are a businessman, do your job,” he said. “If you are aiming to intervene with the electoral judiciary, then we know where you stand and our view of you will change accordingly.” – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2019</s>ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted Tuesday that rerunning the Istanbul mayoral vote won by the opposition will only strengthen democracy, while critics called the decision an “outrageous” move to eliminate dissent against his government.

Ruling in favor of Erdogan’s governing party, Turkey’s top electoral body on Monday annulled the results of the March 31 vote in Istanbul, which opposition candidate Ekrem Imamoglu narrowly won, and scheduled a re-run for June 23.

The loss of Istanbul — and the capital of Ankara — in Turkey’s local elections were sharp blows to Erdogan and his conservative, Islamic-based Justice and Development Party, or AKP.

AKP had challenged the results of the vote, claiming it was marred by irregularities. Critics accuse the AKP of clinging to power in the city of 15 million people that is Turkey’s cultural and commercial hub and of exerting heavy pressure on the country’s electoral body to cancel the outcome.

The controversial decision has increased concerns over democracy and the rule of law in Turkey, a NATO member that that is still formally a candidate to join the European Union and a key Western ally in the fight against terrorism and stemming of the flow of refugees to Europe.

“The will of the people has been trampled on,” said Meral Aksener, leader of a nationalist party in Turkey that had backed Imamoglu.

The move is raising questions about whether Erdogan, who has consolidated power throughout his 16 years in power and is increasingly accused of authoritarianism, would ever accept any electoral defeat or relinquish power.

The redo of the vote also threatens to further de-stabilize the Turkish economy, which has entered a recession.

The Turkish lira crashed spectacularly last summer over investor concerns about Erdogan’s policies, shaking the economy. It has been sliding again in recent weeks and on Tuesday it hit its lowest level since October, due to the prolonged political uncertainty.

“This outrageous decision highlights how Erdogan’s Turkey is drifting toward a dictatorship,” Guy Verhofstadt, a European Parliament lawmaker and the leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, said on Twitter. “Under such leadership, accession talks are impossible.”

Europe’s top human rights and democracy watchdog expressed concerns about reports of pressure exerted by Erdogan’s government on the electoral body.

“We face the repeat elections in Istanbul with great concern and urge Turkish authorities to do their utmost to restore the safeguards of the electoral process,” said Anders Knape, the President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

Delivering a speech in Parliament on Tuesday, Erdogan reiterated that the vote was sullied by “irregularities we could not ignore.”

“We see this decision as an important step in strengthening our democracy, which will enable the removal of the shadow cast over the Istanbul election,” he said.

He rejected opposition accusations that his party was trying to win back a key election that it had lost.

But opposition newspaper Birgun, however, branded the decision a “coup” and argued that justice in Turkey had “been suspended.”

Imamoglu arrived in Ankara on Tuesday for emergency talks with senior members of the opposition Republican Peoples’ Party, or CHP. Media reports had said the party was considering boycotting the repeated vote in Istanbul, but CHP signaled that Imamoglu would run again.

“We extend our hand to all our citizens,” the party said at the end of the meeting. “We wholeheartedly believe that this extended hand will be held strong on 23 June, that it will strengthen our democratic struggle and that we will achieve a greater victory than on March 31.”</s>The decision to rerun local elections in Istanbul was not aimed at safeguarding any party’s interests, the spokesman for the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party said Monday.

THE ELECTIONS WILL BE RESTARTED

Speaking at a press conference at party headquarters, Ömer Çelik said the Supreme Election Council (YSK) did not announce another winner of the mayoral elections but ordered that they be rerun due to some irregularities. "This issue is not about protecting the interests of the AK Party or another party," Çelik said. He added that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also welcomed the decision.

However, the YSK’s decision was condemned by Ekrem İmamoğlu from the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) who narrowly won the mayor’s race for Istanbul in March 31 local elections but whose mayoral certificate was cancelled by the YSK. Speaking at an event in Istanbul, İmamoğlu said he will meet with the head of his party and other party executives and will take the "most correct" decision. "Nobody should have doubt about that," he said. İmamoğlu added that they will surprise those who expect trouble and unpleasantness from them.

The YSK on Monday announced that a do-over election in Istanbul would be held on June 23. The council members accepted the AK Party's objection to the election results, with seven votes in favor and four against. The YSK said earlier that the decision was taken as some ballot committee members who served during the elections were not civil servants as required by law.</s>ANKARA (Reuters) - Several small Turkish parties have signaled they could back the main opposition candidate for mayor of Istanbul in an election re-run, in protest at electoral authorities’ decision to cancel March’s closely fought municipal election.

Ekrem Imamoglu, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate, was declared Istanbul mayor in mid-April after weeks of wrangling over the result and a partial recount.

But President Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) repeatedly called for the Istanbul election to be canceled, alleging widespread irregularities.

Imamoglu beat the AKP’s Binali Yildirim, a former prime minister, by about 13,000 votes in a city of 10 million eligible voters; Erdogan had declared that, with such a small margin, “no one has the right to say they won”.

The High Election Board ruled on Monday that the mayoral contest must be rerun on June 23, sending the Turkish lira tumbling against the dollar as investors fretted about political uncertainty and business leaders criticized the move.

The Islamist Saadet, or Felicity Party, whose candidate Necdet Gokcinar attracted more than 100,000 votes, held an emergency meeting on Tuesday.

“I am ready to withdraw in favor of Imamoglu, I will be waiting for the decision of my party,” Gokcinar told the television channel TV5.

The Democratic Left Party (DSP), which won more than 30,000 votes, tweeted that it would “do what is necessary” in the face of “illegalities” by the High Election Board (YSK).

Imamoglu’s victory marked the first time that the AKP or its Islamist predecessors had failed to hold Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city and its commercial hub.

Erdogan himself had served as the city’s mayor in the 1990s and he had campaigned hard ahead of the local vote in March, his first electoral test since last year’s currency crisis tipped the Turkish economy into recession.
The European Union and leading member states such as Belgium, France and Germany, criticize the Turkish government's decision to re-run Istanbul's mayoral election, which was won by underdog Ekrem İmamoğlu of the opposition multi-party Nation Alliance.