Noticias

“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.

The main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) mayoral candidate for Istanbul, Mustafa Sarıgül, has made the first statement after the ruling party’s Kadir Topbaş led the elections in the city March 30, promising to keep fighting for the future of the country. 

Sarıgül said he knew installing and consolidating real democracy was a tough journey, as the elections had shown him once again. 

Whatever the results of the local elections, they should not be interpreted as an acquittal of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on accusations of immorality, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli said early March 31.

Citing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s balcony speech where he stood with his family members who are subject to a graft probe after the initial results of the elections, Bahçeli said those who were saluted at the balcony had not been exonerated.

Main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has evaluated his Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) results in the March 30 local elections as a “start,” while warning of a possible “witch-hunt” after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s aggressive victory speech.

Only two hours after the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate for Ankaragave a balcony speech to his supporters early in the morning on March 31, in a declaration of victory for the second time within hours, the incumbent mayor of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), for his part, also declared victory for the second time. 

The Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate for Ankara has declared victory in the polls while calling on voters to watch over the counting process and their votes until they are delivered to the Supreme Election Board.  

“We received almost 50 percent of the votes according to the information we have,” CHPcandidate Mansur Yavaş said at a press conference at 8:30 p.m. local time on March 30.

The main opposition Republican People Party (CHP) officials have voiced concern over widespread blackouts throughout Turkey as counting ballots for the March 30 local elections continues.

Fatma Toru, the mayoral candidate for the Meram district of Konya from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), has been elected, according to a local official of the AKP.

Mustafa Ulvi Bezirci, who chairs the AKP's district office in Meram, has announced Toru's victory. If Bezirci's claim will be confirmed, Toru will become the first mayor in Turkey wearing a headscarf.