Turkish prime minister claims victory
in local elections, saying results are a rejection of "aimless,
immoral" rivals.
Turkey's prime minister has has
declared victory in local elections that had become a referendum on his rule,
calling the results a blow to the "immoral, aimless politics" of his
rivals.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned his
rivals would "pay the price" for their loss as preliminary results on
Sunday showed his Justice and Development party, known as the AKP, took up to
47 percent of all votes cast.
The main opposition Republican
People's Party, known as the CHP, had 28 percent and the Nationalist Movement
Party, or MHP, had 13 percent, the Anatolia news agency reported late on
Sunday.
The elections, which were being held
amid corruption allegations and damaging security leaks that have shaken the
12-year rule of the AKP government, were widely seen as a vote of confidence
for the rule of Erdogan.
At a rally in Ankara in the early
hours of Monday, Erdogan said that "democracy and free will" had won.
"These poll results show more
than who won, it shows how lost," he said. "Immoral politics have
lost. Politics on tapes, on false recordings have lost. Immoral and aimless
politics have lost."
He took aim at rivals who sought to
capitalise on the leaked recording in their campaign against him, and the
press.
"I ask the leader of the
opposition if he didn't have the recordings, what would you have said on your
campaign? You only utter lies and false statements."
He gave warning that his foes would
"pay the price". "From tomorrow, there may be some who
flee," he said.
Hectic campaigning
More than 50 million voters were
eligible to cast their ballots in Turkey's local elections.
The AKP, which swept to power in 2002
on a platform of eradicating the corruption that blights Turkish life, hopes on
Sunday to equal or better its overall 2009 vote of 38.8 percent.
Erdogan crisscrossed the nation of 77
million during weeks of hectic campaigning to rally his conservative core
voters, during which he temporarily lost his voice.
His government has purged thousands
of people from the judiciary and police since December following the
anti-corruption raids targeting businessmen close to Erdogan and sons of
ministers.
The prime minister said that those
behind the investigations were trying to form a "state within a
state" or "parallel state", blaming the movement of Fethullah
Gulen, the US-based Turkish cleric whose followers are apparently highly influential
in Turkey's police forces and judiciary.
Many analysts say that the two sides
used to be allies in the past in their struggle against Turkey's politically
dominant military.
The CHP portrays Erdogan as a corrupt
"dictator" ready to hang on to power by any means. Capture of the
capital Ankara or Istanbul would allow them to claim some form of victory,
although no result has been declared in either city.
Source: Al-jazeera
No comments:
Post a Comment