More than 61m cast votes in Turkish local elections
A DAY after Türkiye’s local elections on Sunday, the head of the country’s election authority said 34 political parties had competed in the polls, with over 61 million registered voters casting their ballots.
“The ratio of ballot boxes opened in the mayoral elections for metropolitan municipalities is 99.99 per cent. The turnout rate in the metropolitan municipality mayoral elections is 78.11 per cent,” Ahmet Yener, chairman of the Turkish Supreme Election Council (YSK), said at a Monday news conference in Ankara, the capital.
He also stated that 99.95 per cent of the ballot boxes for municipal mayoral elections were opened with a turnout rate of 78.7 per cent, while the figures for provincial general council elections were at 99.97 per cent and 80.7 per cent, respectively.
“According to unofficial results, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) has won 35 mayoral seats nationwide, the Justice and Development (AK) Party 24, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (DEM) Party 10, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) eight, the New Welfare Party (YRP) two, the Great Unity Party (BBP) one, and İyi Party one.”
Among Türkiye’s 30 metropolitan municipalities, the CHP won 14, AK Party 12, DEM Party three, and the YRP one, he added.
Voters in Türkiye’s larger cities cast votes for metropolitan municipality mayor in last Sunday’s elections, besides municipality mayor, municipal council membership, muhtars and elder council members.
Those cities are Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Aydin, Balıkesir, Bursa, Denizli, Diyarbakır, Erzurum, Eskişehir, Gaziantep, Hatay, İstanbul, İzmir, Kahramanmaraş, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Konya, Malatya, Manisa, Mardin, Mersin, Muğla, Ordu, Sakarya, Samsun, Şanlıurfa, Tekirdağ, Trabzon, and Van.
Yener said that for Türkiye’s 51 provincial municipalities, the CHP won 18 mayoral elections of 44 reported, while AK Party got nine, the MHP eight, DEM Party six, and the BBP, İYI Party, and YRP one each.
Across Türkiye’s 973 districts, Yener added, unofficial results have been reported in 878, with 324 going to AK Party, 302 to the CHP, 110 to the MHP, 54 to DEM Party, 37 to the YRP, 23 to İyi Party, 12 to the BBP, nine to independents, two to the Democratic Party, one to the Democracy and Progress Party, one to the Democratic Left Party, one to the Felicity Party, one to the Left Party, and one to the Workers’ Party of Türkiye.
Of 390 township mayoral elections, reports have come in 356, he said, adding that AK Party had won 154, the MHP 90, the CHP 55, the YRP 22, DEM Party 10, the BBP six, İYI Party five, the Democratic Party and Felicity Party three each, the Democracy and Progress Party and Democratic Left Party two each, and Free Cause Party, Homeland Party, Left Party, and independents one each.
The chairman expressed gratitude to those involved in the elections, stressing that save for isolated incidents, the elections were held largely peacefully and securely.
Türkiye held local elections on Sunday, with the main opposition CHP securing a close lead over the governing AK Party, according to the unofficial results.
The CHP received around 37.8 per cent of the votes, followed by AK Party on around 35.5 per cent.
Candidates from a total of 34 political parties competed in the elections, with over 206,000 polling stations set up across the country.