“Rightists and leftists are brothers, Melih Gökçek is a tyrant,” and “Ankara, claim your votes,” were slogans that crowds, mostly youngsters, were chanting in front of the Supreme Election Board (YSK) late March 31 in order to claim their ballots and protest fraud allegations for the capital city in local elections.
Nationalist supporters of Mansur Yavaş, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate for Ankara, were responding with the traditional nationalist greeting “bozkurt selamı” with their hands, as leftist protestors were giving victory signs.
Many young volunteers rushed to the CHP headquarters March 31 to join teams that were working to count noteworthy differences between the figures provided in records of the ballot boxes and the figures being recorded on the YSK. Teams collected copies of ballot box recordings, communicating with voters through Twitter and Facebook.
The demonstration in front of the YSK grew on April 1 with more people joining the initial volunteers. This live streaming from Doğan News Agency shows thousands of people protesting against the counting of the votes. Riot vehicles started to use water cannons at 4:05 p.m.
Meanwhile, Checking the records of the ballot boxes continued throughout the day and night as the CHP’s Yavaş is expected to deliver his party’s objection to the YSK later on April 1.
“If there are mistakes, they will be corrected by the district election boards,” YSK Chair Sadi Güven told reporters on April 1, noting that there was no need for uneasiness.
Hundreds, including nationalists and CHP voters, kept guard all night long until the morning of April 1 in front of the Yenimahalle district board of election, where some ballot boxes were still due for counting.
CHP deputies for Ankara visited the building in order to control the security of the ballots, with election observers keeping guard in front of the doors of the Yenimahalle district board of election, where Interior Minister Efkan Ala allegedly paid a visit early morning March 31 after the elections, causing fraud claims.
Troubles were reported at the ballot boxes in the Çankaya and Yenimahalle districts, strongholds of the CHP. Members of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) have allegedly interfered with the counting process, daily Cumhuriyet reported.
Central Çankaya, a stronghold for the CHP, is the largest district in Ankara. Yenimahalle is the third largest district. The AKP won the Yenimahalle Municipality in the 2004 local elections and the CHP won it in the 2009 local elections.
AKP appeals results in Adana
Meanwhile, the AKP has appealed the result in the southern metropolis of Adana, where the MHP candidate Hüseyin Sözlü won the polls with 33.22 percent of the vote.
The AKP’s Abdullah Torun came second with 31.87 percent, slightly more than 15,000 votes behind.
The AKP has tasked Deputy Head Süleyman Soylu over the matter, Doğan News Agency reported.
Source/Fuente: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/live-riot-vehicles-use-water-cannons-as...
