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Turkey's top election authority voided the election victory of an opposition candidate and ordered a rerun of the mayoral election in Istanbul, ruling on Monday, 6 May, in favour of the challenge made by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party to the legitimacy of the vote it narrowly lost.
Erdogan's conservative and Islamic-based Justice and Development Party, or AKP, alleged election irregularities made the results invalid. It pushed for an annulment of the vote after 17 days of appeals and repeated recounts failed to produce a different outcome.
State-run Anadolu Agency said the Supreme Electoral Board ruled in favour of Erdogan's party and new elections in Istanbul would be held 23 June. Private NTV television reported the board voted 7-4 in favour of voiding the earlier vote.
Turkey's 31 March local elections were a major setback for Erdogan. His party lost city hall in the capital, Ankara, as well as Istanbul, ending a 25-year run in control of both cities by the Justice and Development Party's the ruling party's and its Islamist predecessor's 25-year-old hold on both cities.
(Published in arrangement with AP)
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