Opposition Takes Istanbul: Election Results

The Turkish Central Election Commission continues to publish the preliminary results of the local elections.

As of the morning of April 1, 192,742 out of 194,678 ballot boxes have been opened, with 99.01% of the votes counted. This was reported by ermenihaber.am.

The distribution of votes obtained by parties is presented in an infographic with color coding.

Accordingly:

1. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) received 44.42% of the counted votes.
2. The opposition Kemalist Republican People's Party (CHP) received 30.07%.
3. The nationalist İYİ Party received 7.46%.
4. The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), identified with the extreme group “Gray Wolves,” received 7.25%.
5. The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) received 4.22%.
6. The radical Happiness Party received 2.68%.

According to the preliminary results of the local elections, the ruling AKP has won in provinces such as Istanbul, Kocaeli, Sakarya, Düzce, Zonguldak, Balıkesir, Bursa, Uşak, Denizli, Afyonkarahisar, Isparta, Konya, Niğde, Aksaray, Nevşehir, Kırıkkale, Kayseri, Yozgat, Çorum, Samsun, Tokat, Sivas, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Gaziantep, Ordu, Malatya, Şanlıurfa, Adıyaman, Giresun, Gümüşhane, Trabzon, Elazığ, Bingöl, Erzurum, Rize, Muş, Bitlis, Şırnak, and Ağrı.

The Kemalist CHP has won in Edirne, Çanakkale, Tekirdağ, Yalova, İzmir, Aydın, Muğla, Burdur, Antalya, Mersin, Adana, Hatay, Bilecik, Bolu, Ankara, Kırşehir, Eskişehir, Sinop, Artvin, and Ardahan.

The pro-Kurdish HDP has claimed victory in Kars, Iğdır, Van, Siirt, Batman, Hakkari, Mardin, and Diyarbakır.

The nationalist MHP has won in Erzincan, Osmaniye, Karaman, Çankırı, Karabük, Bartın, Kastamonu, Kütahya, Manisa, and Bayburt.

The participating Communist Party of Turkey has only won in Tunceli.

Other participating parties have only won in individual municipalities.

A fierce competition has been underway in Istanbul between the ruling AKP and the CHP, where candidates Binali Yıldırım and Ekrem İmamoğlu have received nearly equal votes (Yıldırım: 48.70%, İmamoğlu: 48.65%). The AKP's candidate Yıldırım wins by a slight margin according to preliminary results. However, the CHP insists that its candidate has won.

It should be noted that Turkish researcher Varujan Geghamyan, commenting on the elections held in Turkey, wrote: "And yet, the opposition takes Istanbul. The essential margin was around 20,000 votes. Now is it clear why the votes of the small Armenian community were important? In the picture, the new face of the opposition, Ekrem İmamoğlu."