AKP deputy chair warns election board not to make decision on members’ political views

ANKARA

A woman walks past a police barricade on a road leading to the Supreme Electoral Board (YSK) in Ankara, April 3. REUTERS Photo

The deputy chair of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Mustafa Şentop has accused the Supreme Election Board (YSK) of accepting main opposition party complaints for the March 30 local election results, but refusing his party’s. He called on the board to make decision “according to laws and documents, not on its members’ political views and connections.”

The YSK should respond to political parties’ demands in a balanced way, Anadolu Agency quoted Şentop on April 4, noting the body “has been accepting demands from the Republican People’s Party [CHP] without exception, but overwhelmingly refuses requests from the AKP.”

The board should resist against “pressure” put on by protests on the street, he said.

“The YSK members could have connections to some circles, NGOs, community or political views. Everybody knows each other because the judiciary is not a big community. We all know judiciary members’ political connections, political views.” the AKP chair said.

It’s wrong to “warp the laws and documents according to political views,” Şentop noted.

The YSK has led to the questioning of  its 60 years of credibility following its decisions taken throughout the local election process, Şentop stated, adding yet this situation has no impact on changing the election results.

The controversy surrounding the Turkish capital has been ongoing since the night of the local elections on March 30.

The CHP filed appeals with the district election boards of Ankara for allegedly tampering with votes in 25 districts after going through all of the ballot box results over the AKP’s incumbent mayor winning with a narrow victory.

“We will not let any of the votes of the people of Ankara be wasted. We’ll follow the votes given to us until the end,” Mansur Yavaş, the CHP candidate for Ankara mayor, said in a press conference April 1, noting his party did not believe the election was fair.

Yavaş was challenging AKP candidate Melih Gökçek, who has been running the mayoral position since 1994.