Local do-over elections reverse outcomes in Keskin and Kesmetepe

ANKARA

Local do-over elections on June 2 have reversed the outcome of the March 31 elections in two out of four provinces.

The March 31 local election results were annulled in the Keskin district of the central Kırıkkale province, the Yusufeli district of northeastern Artvin province, the Honaz district of in the Aegean province of Denizli and in the Kesmetepe township in the Besni of southeastern Adıyaman province.

Votes were recast on June 2, changing the outcomes in Keskin and Kesmetepe. The outcomes for Yusufelit and Honaz remained the same.

The ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) candidate Dede Yıldırım won in Keskin, edging out the İyi (Good) Party candidate who had won by a margin of six votes on March 31. The re-run, ordered by the Supreme Election Board (YSK) was based on an AKP objection claiming that restricted electorates had improperly cast votes in the election.

In Kesmetepe, unofficial results show Democratic Left Party (DSP) candidate Ali Yılmaz has won the elections. Yılmaz had the least votes (a total of 242) in the March 31 election compared with the other two candidates from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Democratic Party (DP), who tied with 281 votes each.

In Yusufeli district, AKP candidate Eyüp Aytekin repeated his victory from March 31, according to unofficial results.

Aytekin previously won the elections by three votes. After the CHP challenged the outcome, the YSK detected two voters under legal disability had improperly cast votes in the district.

Main opposition CHP candidate Yüksel Kepenek also won in Honaz for a second time.

In the March 31 election, according to unofficial results, Kepenek won the mayor’s race in the town of Honaz with 9,389 votes, eight votes more than the AKP candidate.

After the AKP objected to the Provincial Election Council, a recount of 41 ballot boxes narrowed the difference to three votes but did not change the outcome. Objections by both parties led to a recount of invalid votes, narrowing the vote margin to a single ballot.

When a discrepancy between the number of votes and eligible voters emerged, the AKP filed another objection, leading the election authority to order fresh polls.