10.08.2026 15:31
AK Party Uskudar District Chairman Taha Saricaoglu filed two criminal complaints, stating that irregularities were committed in the acting chairman election on August 5, and announced that they would file a lawsuit in the administrative court. He alleged that threats, vote cancellations, and inconsistent results occurred during the election.
AK Party Uskudar District Chairman Taha Saricaoglu stated that they filed two separate criminal complaints regarding the deputy chairman election held at the Uskudar Municipal Assembly on August 5, and announced that they would also file a lawsuit in the administrative court demanding the annulment of the election process and the assembly decision, as well as the renewal of the election.
Speaking in front of the Anatolian Courthouse with assembly members, Saricaoglu expressed that the election was a manifestation not only of the political groups in the assembly but also of the public will reflected at the ballot box in Uskudar.
Arguing that protecting the will of the assembly members is a fundamental requirement of democracy, but that events occurred during the election process that overshadowed the free expression of this will, Saricaoglu said that controversial practices regarding election security and the principle of secret ballot took place before the eyes of the public.
Saricaoglu stated that after 6 CHP assembly members voted in favor of the People's Alliance deputy chairman candidate Dundar Ziya Gultekin in the third round, the election was interrupted contrary to its normal course, and their demands that there be no break and the election continue without interruption were not met.
Speaking about what happened during the break, Saricaoglu said, "It has been claimed that CHP assembly members were threatened in their own group room by the provincial chairman of the party whose name is 'New' but whose practices and attitudes are old, and were pressured to change their preferences in the final round. Indeed, the picture changed after the break, and the need has arisen to evaluate this change between the third and fourth rounds together with the claims of threats, blackmail, and pressure experienced during the break."
"THE APPEARANCE OF A LETTER, ITS CROOKEDNESS, BEING REWRITTEN, OR RESEMBLING A NUMBER CANNOT INVALIDATE THAT VOTE"
Saricaoglu also touched upon the disputes regarding the validity of some ballot papers in the fourth round, stating that votes were deemed invalid by evaluating the letters and marks on the ballots in different ways.
Noting that what happened in this round further deepened the disputes during the election process, Saricaoglu, showing the ballot papers in his hand, said, "In this ballot, the letter G was resembled to 6. Another legal absurdity, though it will be a bit funny, the letter Z was resembled to the letter T and to 2. Yet another arbitrary action was that the drawing made to make the letter K prominent in the vote cast for our candidate Dundar Ziya Gultekin was deemed sufficient to invalidate this vote."
Stating that during the vote counting, Divan Chairman Ali Aral said, "These votes got mixed up. I mixed up the votes. Which one was invalid?", Saricaoglu said that the confusion regarding which ballot the votes and objections pertained to raised serious questions about the reliability of the election.
Expressing that the validity of votes should be evaluated only within the framework of the regulation, Saricaoglu stated that the ballots in question were not pre-printed and that assembly members wrote the candidate's name and surname in their own handwriting.
Saricaoglu said, "If it is clearly understood from the written name which candidate was preferred, that vote is valid. The appearance of a letter, its crookedness, being rewritten, or resembling a number cannot invalidate that vote."
Saricaoglu stated that the result of the fourth round was announced twice and in different ways during the session, and that it was then stated a correction was made, claiming that the vote distribution in the corrected announcement did not match the situation reflected in the records during the counting.
Stating that these situations can also be seen from the images taken by the Uskudar Municipality inside the hall, Saricaoglu reported that today they filed two separate criminal complaints together with the assembly members.
Saricaoglu said the first criminal complaint was against the members of the Presidential Council, including charges and claims regarding the prevention of the exercise of political rights, particularly misconduct in office.
Informing that the second criminal complaint concerned the events that took place in and outside the hall during the break after the third round, Saricaoglu noted that the complaint involved claims of threats, brawling, punching, insults, and the establishment of pressure and threats over assembly members who voted in favor of the People's Alliance candidate.
Saricaoglu announced that their legal applications regarding the election process would not be limited to this, and they would also file a lawsuit in the administrative court demanding the annulment of the election process and the assembly decision, as well as the renewal of the election.
"WE ENCOUNTERED A THEATER AT THE MUNICIPALITY FOR THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN ELECTION"
People's Alliance deputy chairman candidate Dundar Ziya Gultekin also said that their votes were invalidated for various reasons during the election, and that after the applications made, the decision would be given by the judiciary.
Describing what happened, Gultekin said, "On Wednesday, August 5, we encountered a theater at the municipality for the Assembly Deputy Chairman election. Our votes were invalidated in all sorts of ways we never imagined."
Stating that they would protect the will of the AK Party and MHP assembly members, who are members of the People's Alliance, and the assembly members who voted for them from the CHP, Gultekin stated that they made their objections and various applications today.
Noting that the subsequent decision belongs to the judiciary, Gultekin said, "We will say 'We accept wholeheartedly' and accept whatever decision they reach."