Özgür Özel calls for early local elections: Let the ballot boxes be set up again in all provinces

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel made striking allegations regarding the Üsküdar Municipality deputy mayoral election. Speaking on a program he attended on Koza TV, Özel claimed that the will of some council members was influenced by promises during the election process and announced that they had filed a criminal complaint as the "aggrieved party" regarding the matter.

Recounting a speech made in the hall by one of the four people who switched to the AKP before the vote, Özel alleged that a council member cast their vote with the promise that their child abroad would be brought back to Turkey. Stating that the person in question said their child was "accused of being a member of a terrorist organization," Özel said, "We are saying that this person's will was corrupted through the freedom of their son, or in other words, their vote was bought."

Claiming that another council member's son, who was in prison, was released on the day of the election, Özel said that the son had not been released previously on the grounds that the conditions for early release had not been met. Özel stated, "We submitted a nine-page petition to the Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor's Office with 11 requests and five notifications. Who we are complaining to whom is a bit complicated. The salt has gone bad," he said.

Özel stated that they also requested an examination of the account movements of the people who voted and their first-degree relatives in the petition. "We wrote it all down to leave a record for history," said Özel, arguing that the controversies during the election process were being tried to be covered up quickly.

CHALLENGE FOR LOCAL ELECTIONS

In his statements, Özel called for local elections to be moved forward, requesting that the local elections scheduled for 2029 be renewed at an earlier date. Özel said, "We are issuing a challenge. Let's move the local elections forward. Let's renew the local elections in all provinces on the date they want. We won the elections with 38 percent; if we don't win with over 45 percent, I don't know anything. I am issuing a challenge of any kind," he said.

Arguing that the government feeds on the environment of hopelessness in society, Özel said that a new picture would emerge after the general elections with "the public's major reckoning at the ballot box."

Touching upon the discussions on cooperation with opposition parties in Parliament, Özel emphasized "legitimate opposition." Stating that they could act together with the actors who emerged from the ballot box, Özel said, "We cannot be with the government's appointed apparatuses. If you grant legitimacy to an illegitimate actor, this will cause public outrage."