AK Party increases, HDP loses votes in eastern and southeastern Turkey

As the opening of ballot boxes are coming to an end on Sunday night, results for the Nov. 1 general parliamentary elections show a decrease in votes for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey's eastern and southeastern provinces.

While HDP came out as the first party in the predominantly Kurdish Diyarbakır province, it lost nearly 5 percent of votes as the Justice and Development (AK) Party increased its votes by 7 percent, at the time 99.31 percent of the boxes were opened.

In the Mardin, Tunceli, Muş, Batman, Siirt, Şırnak, Hakkari, Van, Ağrı, Iğdır and Bitlis provinces HDP has come out as the leading party, whereas in the Kars and Ardahan province the AK Party took away first place from the HDP.

AK Party has increased its votes by nearly 10 percent in the eastern and southeastern provinces compared to the June 7 elections.

AK Party had gained 40.87 percent of the total votes in the June 7 general elections, whereas at the time when 97.50 percent of the ballot boxes were opened the party had gained 49.35 percent of the total votes, followed by the Republican People Party (CHP) at 25.44 percent, and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) by 11.97 percent.

MHP took the biggest hit during the Nov. 1 elections compared to June 7, decreasing its votes from 16.29, whereas HDP decreased its votes from 13.12 percent in the June 7 elections to 10.56 percent.