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Erdogan claims unexpected victory in Turkish Election
Erdogan claims unexpected victory – YouTube
Turkey held its second general election in less than six months on Sunday, with early results suggesting a major surge in support for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) as the increasingly divided country struggles with an increase in violence and instability.
With 73 percent of votes currently counted, the AKP is leading with 51 percent, according to CNN Turk, with the secular Republican People’s Party (CHP) at 23.55 percent, 11.54 percent for the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), and 10.54 percent for the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).
Five months ago, voters shocked the Islamist AKP by denying it a parliamentary majority for the first time since it took power 13 years ago. The result blocked the president’s dreams of altering the constitution and transferring executive powers to his office. This was largely due to the HDP crossing the 10 percent threshold required to secure parliamentary seats for the first time, a victory achieved by expanding beyond its traditional support-base to appeal to secular and liberal Turks. In the following weeks, coalition talks with the CHP and MHP fell apart and snap polls were called.
Campaigning was not as fervent as earlier in the year, when bunting festooned the streets of Istanbul while party slogans and songs blasted from temporary election offices. The toned down atmosphere partly attributable to the fact that most surveys indicated that the results will be largely unchanged from last time round.
‘No peace means no stability and a bad economy.’
Outside a polling station in Istanbul’s Besiktas neighborhood, advertising worker Gamza, 35, said she hoped to see Erdogan leave office, but admitted that she was not confident results would go as she wanted. “In terms of Tayyip, nothing has changed, we [opponents] have become more conscious and people are more motivated… but I’m not sure if the results will change,” she said.
With the HDP almost certain to again pass the parliamentary threshold, the key question is whether the AKP can achieve a majority and allow Erdogan to continue to wield de facto presidential powers. To do so, the president’s party would have to increase its share of the vote from 40.9 percent in June to more than 43 percent and retaking some key marginal provinces to reach 276 out of 550 seats, up from 258.
Source: http://blogdogcicle.blogspot.com/2015/11/erdogan-claims-unexpected-victory-in.html
