30 March, 2009 03:23:00

Voters send strong message in the poll booths

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Almost fifty million voters went out to cast their votes in the polls yesterday. As of 03:30 am this morning, with up to 97% of the votes calculated throughout Turkey, the average district voting results showed the AK Party had received 39.21%, CHP received 23.21%, MHP was at 16.19%, with DTP at 5.28%, and SP had received 5.22 percent of the votes…

Yesterday’s voting, through poll booths set up throughout the nation, determined the local administration that will be in power for the next five years. According to 97% of the voting results, which were revealed at 03:30 am, the AK Party had secured first place, despite experiencing a drop in votes. Turkey’s districts general assembly voting results are as follows: the AK Party received 39.21%, CHP received 23.21%, MHP reached 16.19%, with DTP at 5.28%, and SP at 5.22%. Turkish citizens went out to the poll booths with a sense of mourning after the death of BBP leader Muhsin Yazicioglu was discovered along with the wreckage of the helicopter that crashed, which led to the cancellation of a number of rallies. Throughout Turkey yesterday, 48,006,650 voters cast their votes in 177,050 different poll booths. The election determined 1,974 deputy mayors for 16 metropolitan cities, 65 provinces and 892 districts. In the election, 14,617 assembly members were elected for 3,284 district general assemblies, with 17,946 city-state assembly members elected. The voting results in province and district municipalities showed the AK Party at 40.27%, CHP at 28.04%, MHP at 14.88%, with DTP at 4.87% and SP at 4.68%.

IZMIR VOTES CHP, WHILE DIYARBAKIR SUPPORTS DTP
According to these results, as the AK Party’s votes only decreased by a single point with 40.16% of the votes, in comparison to the 2004 elections, in comparison to 2007 they dropped by seven points from 47%. While CHP secured an increase of two percent, in comparison to both the 2004 local elections and the 2007 general elections, MHP support gained five percent in comparison to the 2004 district general assembly results and increased by two percent when compared to the 2007 election results. The first cities to have achieved the final results were both Izmir and Diyarbakir.  In Izmir the current mayor, Aziz Kocaoglu was reelected, and in Diyarbakir, current mayor Osman Baydemir also won the votes.  

ISTANBUL REMAINS WITH AK PARTY
In Istanbul, AK Party candidate and current Mayor Kadir Topbas was ahead with 44.33% of the votes, while CHP's candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu followed with what appeared to be 37.00% of the votes. Ankara's AK Party candidate Melih Gokcek came in first at 38.45% despite a drop in support, with Murat Karayalcin coming in second with 31.53% of the votes. MHP candidate Mansur Yavas, experienced a breakthrough in the capital city by acquiring 26.88% percent of the votes. Initial voting results showed that in Adana, MHP’s Aytac Durak, in  Ankara, the AK Party’s Melih Gokcek, in Antalya, CHP’s Mustafa Akaydin, in Bursa AK Party candidate Recep Altepe, in Diyarbakir, DTP’s Osman Baydemir, in Gaziantep AK Party candidate Asim Guzelbey, and in Eskisehir, DSP's Yilmaz Buyukersen, in Istanbul the current mayor, AK Party’s Kadir Topbas was reelected, while in Izmir CHP's Aziz Kocaoglu, in Kayseri, AK Party’s Mehmet Ozhaseki, in Kocaeli AK Party candidate Ibrahim Karaosmanoglu, in Konya, AK Party’s Tahir Akyurek, in Mersin CHP's Macit Ozcan, in Sakarya AK Party candidate Zeki Tocoglu, in Samsun AK Party’s Yusuf Ziya Yilmaz were all taking the lead. In Siirt, where Prime Minister Erdogan had once served as governor, the votes turned from AKP to DTP. In Antalya the votes went from the AK Party to CHP, and in Trabzon, from CHP to the AK Party. After having lost Trabzon in the 2004 local elections, there was much celebration by the party for regaining the city’s’ votes.  
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