Opposition loses bid to annul election in Turkish capital

Turkey's top elections authority today rejected a bid by the country's main opposition party to annul a controversial mayoral vote in the capital Ankara, local media said.
The Supreme Electoral Board unanimously rejected the request from the Republican People's Party (CHP), which alleged the incumbent Justice and Development Party (AKP) had won by rigging votes.
The decision is the latest blow to the CHP, which lost a bid for a vote recount of the March 30 poll last week.
The CHP's mayoral candidate Mansur Yavas said the party would take "every legal step at its disposal" to challenge the decision, including taking the issue to the Constitutional Court.

"We will chase even a single vote in Ankara," Yavas was quoted as saying by the private NTV television.
The Islamic-rooted AKP scored significant victories across Turkey in last month's local polls, winning the key prizes of Ankara and Istanbul in votes seen as a referendum on the 11-year-rule of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

His government has been rocked by a spate of wiretaps and social media leaks implicating Erdogan in graft and exposing high-level security talks weighing military action in Syria.
But opposition parties claim the polls were marred by irregularities including ineligible votes, widespread power blackouts during vote counting and misreporting of results.

The race was especially tight in Ankara, where the AKP Mayor Melih Gokcek -- in power for 20 years -- scored 44.79 per cent against 43.77 per cent for Yavas.
The mayor has rejected claims of any irregularities.