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April 4, 2024

Turkey Restores Election Victory of Pro-Kurdish Mayoral Candidate Following Unrest
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Turkey's top election authority says it is reinstating the victory of
Abdullah Zeydan of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy
Party, after his removal led to protests and a crackdown by police.
Zeydan won over 55% of the vote in the eastern city of Van in Sunday's
elections, but the city's election board denied him victory, saying he
was disqualified due to a previous conviction. The local election board
had said the mayorship should instead go to the candidate of President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's AK Party, who won just 27% of the vote. Abdullah
Zeydan's reinstatement is the latest blow to President Erdoğan after the
opposition Republican People's Party won mayoral races in Turkey's five
largest cities Sunday.


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