BDP fielded candidates in 22 provinces at the elections which took place yesterday. BDP Co-President Selahattin Demirtaş said the party had achieved its goals and forced the AKP into retreat in Kurdistan.
According to unconfirmed results the BDP has increased its number of municipalities to 102, including its gaining of three more cities. In some districts debate continues over the results. While the BDP lost votes in some provinces compared with the elections of 2009, it achieved record high votes in others.
In 2009 the BDP received 5.21% of the vote, whereas in yesterday’s elections the combined BDP and HDP vote reached 6.36%.
Mardin, Ağrı and Bitlis were won by the BDP for the first time, while the party retained Amed, Batman, Van, Dersim, Siirt, Hakkari, Şırnak and Iğdır.
The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) has won 3 metropolitan cities (Amed, Van and Mardin), 8 provinces and 66 districts in Kurdistan. Bitlis, Mardin and Ağrı are the new municipalities taken by the BDP.
In Van, BDP received 52 percent votes and won the municipalities of 12 districts.
This is the first time the BDP has taken the local administration in Bitlis, receiving 44 percent of the votes and also winning the municipalities of Hizan, Mutki, Güroymak and Ahlat.
Former chair of the DTK (Democratic Society Congress), Ahmet Türk who run as an independent candidate due to his political ban, won the elections getting 52 percent of the votes. BDP Also took the municipalities of Dargeçit, Derik, Kızıltepe, Mazıdağı and Nusaybin districts.
In Erzurum, BDP won the local administration of Karayazı, Tekman, Hınıs, Karaçoban districts for the first time, and also remained in the lead in Karakoçan district of Elazığ.
BDP has broken a record in Şırnak where it received some 60 percent of the votes and won all districts except for Güçlükonak district.
BDP also took the municipality of Hakkari and all its districts.
The municipality of Ağrı, and its Diyadin, Doğubeyazıt and Tutak districts were also won by the BDP.
BDP took the municipality of Iğdır, and its Tuzluca district, of Batman and its Beşiri and Gercüş districts, of Siirt and its Baykan and Eruh districts.
The municipality of Dersim was also won by the BDP.
BDP also won in Suruç, Viranşehir, Bozova and Halfeti districts of Urfa, as well as Malazgirt, Varto and Bulanık districts of Muş and Digor in Kars.
The Akdeniz district of Mersin has been the only municipality taken by the BDP in the west of Turkey.
Demirtaş: Results show polarized Turkey
In a statement assessing the results of local elections, BDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş said the results have revealed the presence of a very sharp polarization in Turkey.
BDP co-chair said the process of local elections should be discussed for a long time for it didn’t witness any discussion about local elections and passed instead as if a process of general elections.
According to Demirtaş, the Gezi uprising of last June, 17 December’s corruption and bribery operation and recently leaked tapes have affected the election process, adding that the results have also revealed that voters predominantly maintained their political view.
Remarking that the BDP reached 80 percent in the Kurdish region before the elections, BDP co-chair said the party had the potential to receive more votes but failed to do so because of the ongoing imprisonment of its politicians, the discrimination it has faced and the lack of media support for the party. Demirtaş said the state-run Anadolu Agency and TRT imposed an embargo on the BDP and gave no coverage to its propaganda within this process.
According to Demirtaş, women are the only winners of the local elections and that they have achieved a great success in both BDP and HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party).
BDP co-chair criticized Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan for using a discriminative language during the election campaigning process as if the country would have a war not elections.
He said it was very important that BDP made AKP suffer a downfall in the areas it competed the AKP, and managed to increase the number of its municipalities.
BDP co-chair remarked that they would conduct researches in the areas where BDP has lost and received less votes.
Demirtaş said BDP stood by all the promises it made before the elections, and wouldwww.Ekurd.net be doing its best to fulfill them and conducting a much more comprehensive work in the coming period.
He said local elections have been a kind of rehearsal for the general elections when -he added- they expected to achieve a greater success.
Drawing attention to the success BDP and HDP have achieved, Demirtaş said it was not easy to achieve this as an opposition and grassroots movement.
Vote Rates Across Turkey
The difference between AA and Cihan News Agecy in the process of vote counting has kept on.
According to both of the news agency the vote rates as of 11:30 am local time can be seen below:
According to Anatolia Agency, opened ballot boxes: 97.66
The percentages of the parties:
AKP: 45.55%
CHP: 27.91%
MHP: 15.6%
BDP: 4.01%
According to Cihan News Agency, opened ballot boxes: 92.65
The percentages of the parties:
AKP: 43.20%
CHP: 26.13%
MHP: 17.68%
BDP: 4.54%
According to the party assembly elections in 2009 the percentages of the vote distributions were as the following:
AKP: 38.39%
CHP: 23.08%
MHP: 15.97%
DTP: 5.70% (AS/BD)
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Published by Ekurd.net on 31 March.