Turkey’s AK Party renews stronghold on major cities

While Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party enjoyed victories in much of Turkey including the capital Ankara and the hotly contended city of Istanbul, the main opposition party CHP held on to their stronghold on the western coastal regions, with a clear win in Izmir. Meanwhile, pro-Kurdish BDP noted victories in the mainly Kurdish south-eastern regions including the city of Diyarbakir. The Turkish right-wing MHP also saw success in the southern coastal provinces of Mersin, Adana and Osmaniye.
TRUSTWORTHY ELECTIONS
Turkey’s elections authority said on Sunday the election results of local elections across the country results would be problem-free.
“Results published by political parties may be different than those broadcast on television,” Sadi Guven, head of the electoral authority YSK said late Sunday. “We have yet to announce the official results. I do not think that there will be a problem with the polls results,” he added.
LATEST RESULTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY
Unofficial results from Sunday’s local elections in Turkey, as of 09:05 (06:05 GMT, March 31).
NATIONWIDE DISTRIBUTION OF VOTES* (%)
AK PARTY 45.56%
CHP 27.91%
MHP 15.17%
BDP 3.74%
OTHERS 7.73%