Turkey's electoral authority has announced a rerun of the vote for Istanbul's mayor, expected on 23 June. Ensuring a free, fair and transparent election process is essential to any democracy and is at the heart of the European Union's relations with Turkey. The authority allegedly bowed to pressure from President Erdogan's AKP party after the opposition CHP party narrowly won the mayoral election on 31 March. Erdogan's party said there were "irregularities" in the vote and that a margin of 15,000 votes was too small. A spokesman from the CHP party described the move as "plain dictatorship" from Erdogan, while the EU called for Turkey to explain its reasoning. In an interview with Al Jazeera English broadcast today, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Germany of using "political pressure" against his country over the failed coup attempt last month.
Turkey's electoral authority has announced a rerun of the vote for Istanbul's mayor, expected on 23 June. The authority allegedly bowed to pressure from President Erdogan's AKP party after the opposition CHP party narrowly won the mayoral election on 31 March. Erdogan's party said there were "irregularities" in the vote and that a margin of 15,000 votes was too small. A spokesman from the CHP party described the move as "plain dictatorship" from Erdogan, while the EU called for Turkey to explain its reasoning. In an interview with Al Jazeera English broadcast today, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Germany of using "political pressure" against his country over the failed coup attempt last month.