Surprising results from certain districts in Istanbul

The main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, is set not only to increase its votes in those districts but also maintained administration in both districts. In Sariyer, CHP's voted increased to 37 percent from 25 percent with its candidate Sukru Genc.  

During the elections, residents of Sariyer voiced their discontent with the current AKP administration in the district. AKP's votes, on the other hand, fell to 31 percent from 32 percent to in Sariyer, a small decline which was enough for the party to lose its place in the administration.

In Kartal, CHP managed to increase its support to 32 percent from 29 percent, holding onto the administration in the district, which has industrial sites, with a planned futuristic type urban city environment scheduled for construction.

In the Silivri district, best known for the prison where Ergenekon case detainees are being held, AKP lost the administration to the CHP despite the ruling party increasing its votes to 39 percent from 34 percent. Voters in the Silivri district clearly showed their support for CHP, increasing the party’s votes to 46 percent from 29 percent, giving them the administration.

In Maltepe, CHP increased its votes stealing the administration from AKP. CHP secured 50 percent of the votes, while AKP's support fell to 39 percent from 43 percent with 93 percent of the votes counted in the district at 9 a.m. (0600 GMT)

CHP maintained its administration in Kadikoy, Bakirkoy, Besiktas and Avcilar, increasing its vote ratio in all these districts.

In Kadikoy, on the city’s Anatolian side, Selami Ozturk, from the CHP ticket gained 68 percent of the vote. AKP support fell to around 21 percent from the 32 percent of support gained in the 2004 local elections.

In Bakirkoy, AKP candidate Oguz Satici, a prominent figure in the business world, failed to prove enough to overcome CHP’s stronghold in the district. CHP increased its votes to around 56 percent in the 2009 local elections, up from the 42 percent gained in 2004.

Despite Satici’s candidacy, AKP votes declined to 23 percent from the 25 percent gained in 2004.

Meral Tamer, a columnist in daily Milliyet told private broadcaster NTV news channel that the results shows that CHP municipalities can increase their votes by providing the people with good ministration.

In the recently constituted district of Basaksehir, the AKP was ahead of other parties with 39 percent of total votes. Although it is a new district, it is composed of the Bahcesehir, known to be a secular and high socio-economic neighborhood, and of the conservative Basaksehir neighborhood, and the Altinsehir neighborhood composed of low income segments of society.

CHP follows behind AKP with 31 percent of support in this newly constituted and often criticized district.

In some districts, the race was not only run between AKP and CHP, but included other opposition parties including the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, and Felicity Party, or SP, who also made a strong comeback.

Beykoz, a district where discontent has set in as job losses increased in recent years, AKP’s support dropped to around 37 percent from 42 percent. CHP increased its support to 32 percent from the 28 percent gained in the previous election. Beykoz is however a good example showing that the AKP did not lose votes only to CHP, but also to MHP and SP. MHP increased its votes to 11.7 percent from 3 percent, while SP’s support rose to 10 percent from 6 percent in the Beykoz district located on the shores of the Anatolia side of Istanbul.

In some districts, AKP lost support but not the administration, one such district is historical Uskudar. AKP votes fell to 37 percent from 43 percent in Uskudar, a conservative district. CHP however increased its support to 29 percent from 23 percent in the district that has emerged in recent years as a magnet for the country’s more conservative segments. Famous comedian, Levent Kirca, candidate for the Democratic Left Party, or DSP, managed to increase DSP’s votes slightly to 4 percent from 1 percent.

DSP, on the other hand, managed to secure Sisli, populated mostly by high socio-economic segments of society and many non-Muslim citizens thanks to its powerful candidate Mustafa Sarigul. Sarigul had represented CHP as mayor in past elections but switched this party alliance ahead of the elections. Sarigul held 54 percent of the votes in Sisli.

In the 2009 elections, AKP candidate and current mayor Kadir Topbas gained around 44.3 percent of the vote, while support for rival  CHP candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu is around 36.8 percent, with 98 percent of the votes counted. CHP had gained only 28 percent of the vote in Istanbul in the 2004 elections.