国际英语新闻:Turkey's main opposition calls for lawyers to monitor fresh mayoral election in Istanbul

ISTANBUL, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's main opposition party on Wednesday called for lawyers in the country to monitor the ballot boxes during the re-run of the mayoral election in Istanbul on June 23.

The Republican People's Party (CHP) initiated a campaign, dubbed "One ballot box, one lawyer," with a view to preventing possible irregularities and wrongdoing during the voting and counting processes, the party said in a press release.

"I invite all lawyers to fulfill a mission at the ballot boxes during the election," Canan Kaftancioglu, head of the CHP in Istanbul Province, was quoted as saying.

The party has been planning to have at least one lawyer for each of the 31,186 ballot boxes in 39 districts of the city.

Turkey held local elections on March 31, in which the CHP mayoral candidates won in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, the largest three cities of Turkey.

The Supreme Election Council annulled the result of the Istanbul election and ordered a fresh one in the city last week over appeals by the ruling Justice and Development Party.

The candidate of the Democratic Left Party has withdrawn from the race in a move to support the CHP candidate.