Turkish election board rejects opposition bid to annul votes

ISTANBUL: Turkey's High Election Board (YSK) has rejected a bid by the main opposition party to annul elections for local officials and councils in Istanbul, as well as the vote for the city's mayor, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported on Monday.

The YSK last week ordered a re-run of the Istanbul mayoral election, citing irregularities in the appointment of polling station officials, but it did not cancel votes for district mayors, administrators and municipal councils.

The main opposition CHP party argued that if the mayoral vote - which it won - was cancelled then all the other votes in Istanbul, as well as President Tayyip Erdogan's victory in national elections last year, should also be annulled because the same irregularities took place in those elections.