AKP Elections Landslide not Implicit

As the results of the general election have become finalised, there have been no major changes since last night. The AKP has won 341 seats, the CHP 111 seats, the MHP 70 seats. 24 candidates whom the pro-Kurdish DTP supported are also elected.

Ankara

Around 35 million voters filled in their ballot papers in Turkey's general elections yesterday, and the majority chose the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

AKP's clear majority

With around 16 million votes, the AKP achieved 46.54 percent, an improvement on their 2002 result of 34.43 percent. This means 341 seats in the 550-seat parliament.

The Republican People's Party (CHP) has come second with less than half of the AKP's votes, with 20.79 percent. Although this is around the same as in 2002 (19.41 percent), the CHP is seen as having lost votes to the nationalist MHP. The CHP has won 111 seats.

MHP back in parliament

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) was unable to enter in parliament in 2002, because with 8.35 percent it was below the 10 percent electoral hurdle.

However, the increasing nationalism which the army and all the mainstream parties have been fanning has benefited the MHP. With around five million voters, they follow the CHP into parliament as the third party with 14.25 percent. This means 70 seats.

28 independent parliamentarians, 24 from DTP

Many left-wing people have been disaffected by the CHP and have looked towards the independent candidates which the left and the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) fielded. These candidates were called the "Thousand Hope" candidates.

A total of 28 independent candidates have entered parliament, most of them DTP-supported. An exception is Mesut Yilmaz, the former Prime Minister and Motherland Party (ANAP) politician, who stood as an independent candidate in Rize, on the Black Sea. In Sivas, the chairman of the Great Union Party (BBP), Muhsin Yazicioglu and in Tunceli Kamer Genc, a former MP, collected enough votes to enter parliament. In Sanliurfa, former MP Seydi Eyyupoglu also won.

In Istanbul, two "Thousand Hope" candidates have won, Mehmet Ufuk Uras, the former chairperson of the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP) and Sebahat Tuncel, a woman candidate in detention, will both enter parliament.

Mainly in Southeastern provinces, there are 24 DTP-supported independent MPs in the new parliament. It is possible that they form a group in parliament.

Baskin Oran: "We have broken the mould"

Prof. Dr. Baskin Oran, another independent candidate in Istanbul (although not a "Thousand Hope" candidate), did not manage to win. At around 9 pm last night (22 July), he made a brief statement:

"We did not have the support of any party or any group. Independent candidates have managed to create an alternative to the politics of blocked arteries."

He continued: "The people have not responded to nationalism and the pressure of the army. A possible CHP-MHP coalition has fewer than 50 percent. In our election campaign, we have broken the mould of a 600-year political tradition." (AG/AÖ)

* This article has used information from www.belgenet.net and www.hurriyet.com.tr/secimsonuc/default.html