Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party holds onto municipality in election repeat
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) held onto the mayoralty of Hilvan in Sanliurfa province in a repeat of the March 31 election that was too close to call.
Non-official preliminary results indicate the DEM Party beat the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) by more than 3,000 votes.
“According to the records we have, our party received 10,731 votes, while our closest rival, the ruling party, received 7,420 votes. The vote difference, which was 500 on March 31st, has increased to 3,244,” DEM Party tweeted.
“This result is a testament that no power can break the will of our people,” the party added.
Turkey held its local elections on March 31. With just a few hundred votes between them and the DEM Party in Hilvan, AKP appealed the results and the electoral body called for a redo.
Thousands of DEM Party supporters gathered in the streets of Hilvan on Sunday to celebrate the victory.
The DEM Party scored several significant victories in the March election. It took Diyarbakir, Mardin, Batman, Siirt, Hakkari, Van, and Igdir provinces, which its sister party, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), won in 2019 only to have their mayors removed because of alleged links with Kurdish rebels and replaced by state-appointed administrators.
The pro-Kurdish party also won Tunceli from the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) and took Agri and Mus from the AKP.
AKP dramatically lost votes across the country, including in the cities of Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Antalya.
Non-official preliminary results indicate the DEM Party beat the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) by more than 3,000 votes.
“According to the records we have, our party received 10,731 votes, while our closest rival, the ruling party, received 7,420 votes. The vote difference, which was 500 on March 31st, has increased to 3,244,” DEM Party tweeted.
“This result is a testament that no power can break the will of our people,” the party added.
Turkey held its local elections on March 31. With just a few hundred votes between them and the DEM Party in Hilvan, AKP appealed the results and the electoral body called for a redo.
Thousands of DEM Party supporters gathered in the streets of Hilvan on Sunday to celebrate the victory.
The DEM Party scored several significant victories in the March election. It took Diyarbakir, Mardin, Batman, Siirt, Hakkari, Van, and Igdir provinces, which its sister party, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), won in 2019 only to have their mayors removed because of alleged links with Kurdish rebels and replaced by state-appointed administrators.
The pro-Kurdish party also won Tunceli from the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) and took Agri and Mus from the AKP.
AKP dramatically lost votes across the country, including in the cities of Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Antalya.