AKP wins in capital amid cries of foul play
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Hürriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 31, 2009 00:00
ANKARA - Despite a significant drop in votes for the ruling party in the capital, incumbent mayor Melih Gökçek has recaptured the mayoral role for the fourth time with 38 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, the opposition parties alleged the elections were corrupted by power cuts and computer system failure.
There was a closely fought race in Ankara between the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, and the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, on Sunday. The tension, felt ahead of the elections between the three, which arose with the selection of three strong candidates, continued through the counting of results. The AKP’s Gökçek won with 38.4 percent of the vote, while the CHP’s Murat Karayalçın came in 31.5 percent and the MHP’s Mansur Yavaş took 26.9 percent. While the votes were being counted in the capital, the CHP and MHP complained that there were power cuts in some parts of Ankara and the ballot boxes were not secure, with the two parties’ mayoral candidates urging their electorates to protect their votes.
In a press conference late Sunday, Karayalçın said he did not expect the votes to be counted in the dark. The Supreme Election Board, or YSK, could not enter the data of election results in the capital’s Yenimahalle, Dikmen and Çankaya districts, where election results could not be counted because of the power cuts and failures of the computer system, Karayalçın said. They applied to the YSK and Energy Ministry for an explanation.
AKP loses two districts
Speaking to journalists yesterday, YSK President Muammer Aydın said no intervention was possible from outside their database, which was highly protected. The deadlock in entering results into their database Sunday stemmed from the density in flow of votes. Aydın also said allegations over stolen ballot boxes were being investigated and that any complaint concerning the elections should be made before 2 p.m. today. The YSK will then launch an inquiry into the claims.
The AKP won the mayoral seats in Ankara’s 14 districts, including in Altındağ, Keçiören, Mamak and Sincan while the CHP maintained its decades of dominance in Ankara’s Çankaya district, the social democrats’ stronghold, where Bülent Tanık assumed the mayoral seat. The CHP also dominated the votes in Ayaş, Kalecik and the large Yenimahalle with the MHP winning the mayoral seat in Bala, Beypazarı, Etimesgut, Evren, Gölbaşı, Kızılcahamam and Nallıhan. The AKP lost Yenimahalle where the CHP won the elections as well as Gölbaşı, where the MHP won.
In a press conference late Sunday, Karayalçın said he did not expect the votes to be counted in the dark. The Supreme Election Board, or YSK, could not enter the data of election results in the capital’s Yenimahalle, Dikmen and Çankaya districts, where election results could not be counted because of the power cuts and failures of the computer system, Karayalçın said. They applied to the YSK and Energy Ministry for an explanation.
AKP loses two districts
Speaking to journalists yesterday, YSK President Muammer Aydın said no intervention was possible from outside their database, which was highly protected. The deadlock in entering results into their database Sunday stemmed from the density in flow of votes. Aydın also said allegations over stolen ballot boxes were being investigated and that any complaint concerning the elections should be made before 2 p.m. today. The YSK will then launch an inquiry into the claims.
The AKP won the mayoral seats in Ankara’s 14 districts, including in Altındağ, Keçiören, Mamak and Sincan while the CHP maintained its decades of dominance in Ankara’s Çankaya district, the social democrats’ stronghold, where Bülent Tanık assumed the mayoral seat. The CHP also dominated the votes in Ayaş, Kalecik and the large Yenimahalle with the MHP winning the mayoral seat in Bala, Beypazarı, Etimesgut, Evren, Gölbaşı, Kızılcahamam and Nallıhan. The AKP lost Yenimahalle where the CHP won the elections as well as Gölbaşı, where the MHP won.