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WORLD NEWS Monday 1 april 2019

Turkey’s ruling party leads local elections but loses Ankara

By ZEYNEP BILGINSOY president’s Justice and De-
SUZAN FRASER velopment Party. Felicity’s
Associated Press leader, Temel Karamollao-
ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish glu, alleged a polling sta-
President Recep Tayyip Er- tion volunteer and a party
dogan’s ruling party led observer were shot by a rel-
Sunday’s mayoral elec- ative of a ruling party can-
tions but suffered setbacks didate. Speaking to report-
as the opposition regained ers after he voted, Erdogan
hold of the capital Ankara said he was sad about the
and made significant in- deaths and didn’t want
roads in other parts of Tur- them to become a cause
key. The elections, which for “a questioning or a
the Turkish strongman had judgment between politi-
depicted as a fight for the cal parties.”
country’s survival, were Two other people were
largely seen as a test of his killed in fighting in the
support amid a sharp eco- southern city of Gaziantep.
nomic downturn. Fights related to local elec-
Erdogan’s conservative, tions in several provinces
Islamic-based Justice and also produced dozens of
Development Party, or AKP, injuries, Turkey’s official An-
took nearly 45 percent of adolu news agency report-
the votes in the elections af- Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leaves the polling booth during local elections, in ed. The exact causes of the
ter 90 percent of the more Istanbul, Sunday, March 31, 2019. fights remained unclear.
than 194,000 ballot boxes Associated Press Election campaigning was
were counted, according party’s headquarters in An- ran for mayor under the gan said, noting that the highly polarized, with Erdo-
to state broadcaster TRT. kara. Former Prime Minister banner of Erdogan and his party had emerged as the gan and other officials us-
The secular, main opposi- Binali Yildirim, the ruling par- nationalist allies. The ruling winner nationwide by a ing hostile rhetoric toward
tion party, the Republican ty’s candidate for mayor party accused his oppo- large margin. opposition candidates.
People’s Party, or CHP had of Istanbul declared vic- nent Yavas of forgery and The voting was marred by Erdogan’s ruling party had
30 percent. tory even though the race tax evasion. Yavas says scattered election violence renewed an alliance with
The CHP’s mayoral can- in Turkey’s largest city and he is the victim of a smear that killed at least four peo- the country’s national-
didate for Ankara, Man- commercial hub was too campaign. ple and injured dozens of ist party to increase votes.
sur Yavas, however, won close to call. Yildirim gar- Sunday’s elections were a others across Turkey. Unof- Opposition parties also co-
control of Ankara after 25 nered 48.71 percent of the first test for Erdogan since ficial final results were ex- ordinated strategies and
years of rule by the AKP votes against the opposi- he won re-election under a pected late Sunday. put forward candidates
and a predecessor party. tion candidate Ekrem Ima- new system of government Years of economic pros- under alliances in an effort
The 63-year-old lawyer re- moglu’s 48.65 percent. CHP that gave the presidency perity provided Erdogan to maximize the chances
ceived more than 50 per- leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu expanded powers. Erdo- and his party with previ- of unseating members of
cent of the votes, accord- rebuked Yildirim for declar- gan campaigned tirelessly ous election victories. But the AKP.
ing to TRT. The CHP and ing victory “in haste.” for AKP’s candidates, fram- the race for 30 large cities, The pro-Kurdish, People’s
its allies also posted gains Erdogan attaches great ing the municipal elections 51 provincial capitals and Democratic Party ap-
elsewhere, increasing the importance to Istanbul as a matter of “national hundreds of districts were peared to have regained
number of city mayoral where he began his rise to survival.” He also portrayed held as Turkey grapples seats in several districts
seats from 14 in the previ- power as its mayor in 1994. the country’s economic with a weakened currency, in Turkey’s mostly-Kurdish
ous local elections in 2014 He has said at campaign woes as attacks by ene- a double-digit inflation rate southeast region where Er-
to 20, according to the pre- rallies that “whoever wins mies at home and abroad. and soaring food prices. dogan’s government had
liminary results. Istanbul, wins Turkey.” “Those who have tried to The high stakes of the lo- replaced elected mayors
“History is being written in Ankara was considered bring our country on its cal contests were brought with government-appoint-
Ankara,” said deputy CHP the main battleground of knees by damaging our into stark display with the ed trustees, alleging that
leader Haluk Koc, while the race, where a former people’s unity and togeth- deaths of two members of the ousted officials had
thousands of supporters government environment erness, have once again the Islamic-oriented Felic- links to outlawed Kurdish
celebrated outside the minister, Mehmet Ozhaseki, been dealt a blow,” Erdo- ity Party, a small rival of the militants.q