AK Party candidates set to win election reruns in Kırıkkale's Keskin, Artvin's Yusufeli

Reruns of the March 31 local elections were held Sunday in three districts and one town across Turkey.

The ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) candidates are set to win the mayoral election rerun in the Keskin district of central Kırıkkale and the Yusufeli district of northeastern Artvin, results showed Sunday.

In Keskin, according to unofficial results, AK Party candidate Dede Yıldırım won 2,426 votes over 2,165 votes cast in favor of the National Alliance's Good Party (IP) candidate Necati Alsancak.

In the mayoral election held on March 31, Yıldırım received 1,800 votes while Alsancak emerged with a hairsbreadth lead of 1,806. The Supreme Election Council (YSK) ruled for a rerun of the election to be held on June 2.

In Yusufeli, AK Party candidate Eyüp Aytekin is set to win the rerun. According to unofficial results, Aytekin won 2,428 votes while main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) candidate Barış Demirci won 2,063 votes.

The CHP had requested the results of the March 31 elections be annulled after Aytekin won by a slim margin of three votes. The YSK accepted the CHP's petition and ruled for a rerun.

Reruns were also held in the Honaz district of western Denizli province and the Kesmetepe town of the Besni of southeastern Adıyaman province on Sunday.

In Honaz, CHP candidate Yüksel Kepenek won, according to unofficial results.

In Kesmetepe, unofficial results show Democratic Left Party (DSP) candidate Ali Yılmaz has won the election for mayor with 370 of the 1,115 votes cast.

Yılmaz had contested the results of the March 31 election, claiming that ballots in one box were cast twice in favor of opposing candidates. His petition was rejected by the district and provincial election councils but was accepted by the YSK, who ruled for a rerun.

The YSK also ruled for reruns of three other March 31 elections. On June 23, voters in Istanbul will head to the polls again to vote for metropolitan municipal mayor, after the results of the close race between AK Party candidate Binali Yıldırım and CHP candidate Ekrem Imamoğlu, which showed Imamoğlu on top, were deemed invalid and annulled.

On July 21, the town of Demirci in the Gülağaç district of central Aksaray will have an election rerun. On Aug. 4, the Suvarlı town of the Besni district of Adıyaman will also return to the polls.