The People’s Alliance led by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan boasts success in Parliament after Sunday’s legislative elections. Though the presidential race was neck-and-neck, parliamentary elections mirrored past votes for the alliance as it secured 15% more votes than its main rival, the Nation Alliance of Erdoğan’s main rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
The People's Alliance, which also includes the staunch AK Party ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the Grand Union Party (BBP) and the New Welfare Party (YRP), a new member of the bloc, emerged victorious in the elections. It secured around 50% of the vote, according to the unofficial results.
The victory of the People’s Alliance also helped the heads of two smaller parties win seats. Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu, chair of the Free Cause Party (HÜDA-PAR), and Önder Aksakal, head of the Democratic Left Party (DSP), who was nominated under the AK Party, won parliamentary seats. YRP leader Fatih Erbakan, whose party members run under their own name in the legislative polls, was also elected to Parliament.
The MHP, on the other hand, secured a victory by gathering 10% of the vote, surprising pollsters who predicted it would fail to pass the 7% vote threshold required for parties to win parliamentary seats. Pundits say the strategy of the People’s Alliance to field their own candidates in the parliamentary vote apparently worked.
The opposition's Nation Alliance has sought to avoid failure to win seats for its members by adding candidates of smaller members to the candidate list of the Republican People's Party (CHP), the most successful of the alliance.
The Good Party (IP), founded by former members of the MHP and seeking to attract disillusioned supporters of the nationalist party, had its hopes dashed in the parliamentary polls. It secured only 9% of the vote, becoming the fourth-largest party in a Parliament now dominated by the People’s Alliance. The party had initially split from the Nation Alliance when Kılıçdaroğlu was fielded as a candidate but it returned to the six-party alliance a few days later, seemingly when the bloc accepted their offer to nominate two mayors it endorsed as future vice presidents.
Another “loser” of the election was the Green Left Party (YSP). Originally the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the party was a last-minute addition to the race when HDP administrators sought to avoid the risk of closure amid a lawsuit against the party accused of having ties with the PKK terrorist group. Under its new name, however, the party saw its support slide to around 9%, from 11% in the past election. YSP spokesperson Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar acknowledged the failure at a news conference on Monday. Uçar said they failed to achieve their goals for the election.
Smaller political parties of the Nation Alliance also suffered losses in the elections. Anticipating high support, the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA), the Future Party (GP) and the Felicity Party (SP) barely managed to garner 25% together with the CHP.
Elsewhere, the elections showed the support for the AK Party was unwavering in areas hit by Feb. 6 earthquakes, where the party was expected to “take a hit” for alleged shortcomings to respond to the disaster that killed thousands. The AK Party and most other parties largely kept the number of lawmakers they had in the 11 provinces affected by the disaster. In Adıyaman, Malatya and Hatay, the AK Party won four seats each. This put it ahead of the CHP, which only secured three seats, compared to the Green Left Party’s (YSP) eight seats in Diyarbakır. In Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa, the AK Party won eight seats each, far ahead of the CHP.
Opposition voters expressed dismay and disbelief on Monday over election losses, while the president's overjoyed supporters expressed confidence that he would prevail in the May 28 runoff. "Until now I have witnessed many elections. My 14-year-old daughter who waited up all night for the election results went to bed disappointed. They have left me devastated this time," 55-year-old Menser Özakdağ, a taxi driver, told Reuters in Istanbul.
In contrast, Erdoğan voters were upbeat about his chances of extending his 20-year rule into a third decade in the runoff vote against Kılıçdaroğlu. "In the second round of the presidential election, Tayyip Erdogan will sweep to victory," said retiree Sabri Şeker.
The mood in the opposition camp was subdued overnight as votes were being counted. The opposition had expected to benefit from voter anger over Türkiye’s economic woes. However, Firdevs Aydin, a 55-year-old retiree, did not share that optimism. "I am very disappointed. Even though I knew it could go to a second round, I also believed that Kilicdaroglu would be ahead of Erdogan (in the first round)," she said.
