Opposition calls on electoral authorities to be impartial
ANKARA
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has warned the security of the election was in danger, calling on the Superior Election Council (YSK) to be impartial.
Kılıçdaroğlu said President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Erdogan’s request for a full recount of the votes lacked a reasonable justification.
“Now the YSK has entered a process that damages the security of the ballot boxes, the security of the election. This is the real danger,” Kılıçdaroğlu said on April 8 at a press conference held after his meeting with İYİ (Good) Party chair Meral Akşener.
“I appeal to the jurists at the Supreme Electoral Council: Your independence and your objectivity are very important,” he noted.
“The CHP has no objections to the recount of votes, but the recount demand was without a palpable reason,” he said, adding that the YSK must ensure reliance on the law, Kılıçdaroğlu stated.
“I’m addressing the judges in the YSK. They [AKP] say they will recount votes in 38 districts [of Istanbul] again. For what reason?” he said, noting that the ballot box reports, which are documents with wet signatures, bear the approval of political party representatives at polling stations and councils, including those of the AKP, Kılıçdaroğlu noted.
“What I want from the YSK judges is for them to put the records with signatures before them and decide. Otherwise, how will they look at their children tomorrow?”
He said this was a necessity of democracy, otherwise, “democracy will be slaughtered by judges.”
Turkey should immediately leave the elections behind and focus on its problems, Kılıçdaroğlu added.
“Turkey has experienced severe economic, internal and external problems and must get out of this electoral climate as soon as possible,” he said.
Rejecting the poll results in Istanbul is disrespect to the national will, Akşener said for her part.
She said Erdoğan was “disrespecting the choice of the people” who cast their ballots into the same box that elected him as prime minister and president in the past.
