CHP files application to YSK regarding Hatay

The Republican People's Party (CHP) has taken the Hatay Provincial Election Board's decision to issue the certificate of election to AKP's Mehmet Öntürk to the YSK, in a province where the process of objecting to election results is still ongoing.

In the application filed by the CHP through lawyer Çağlar Çağlayan, it was stated that 816 thousand 874 voters participated in the March 31 Hatay Metropolitan Municipality mayoral election, with 777 thousand 986 votes counted as valid and 38 thousand 888 votes as invalid.

The application, which stated that the vote margin between the AKP and CHP candidates is currently 2 thousand 569 following objections filed with district election boards against the ballot box result reports for the Metropolitan Municipality mayoral elections, included the following statement: "Our party has objected to the election results in all districts of Hatay province. The review of the objections made by our party by the relevant election boards is ongoing. In other words, the objection processes for the Hatay Metropolitan Municipality mayoral election are still underway."

The application recalled that the YSK, in its decision dated April 9, 2019, and numbered 2019/2272, stipulated that "certificates of election for mayoralties and municipal council memberships can be issued once the objection process is completed," and noted that many district election boards have not issued certificates to CHP mayors who won by a wide margin because objection processes are still ongoing.

The application stated that it was announced that a certificate of election would be prepared for the AKP candidate in the Hatay Metropolitan Municipality mayoral election, where their objections have not yet been finalized, and that it would be presented at a ceremony today at 12:00, adding: "Issuing the Hatay Metropolitan Municipality mayoral certificate before the objection processes are completed is contrary to the law and the YSK decision. For these reasons, I respectfully submit and request that a certificate not be issued before the Hatay Metropolitan Municipality mayoral election, for which the objection process is ongoing, is finalized."

-"I INVITE THE YSK TO COMPLY WITH ITS OWN DECISION"

CHP Deputy Chair Responsible for Legal and Election Affairs Gül Çiftci Binici also stated in a written statement regarding the application: "I invite the YSK to comply with its 2019 decision that 'a certificate of election should not be issued to a candidate while an objection is ongoing in an electoral district'."