HDP crosses threshold despite all the pressure

As it remained outside the alliance that the CHP, Good Party, SP and DP combined to form in the 24 June elections, one of the most hotly debated topics in the run-up to the election was whether the HDP would surmount the ten per cent threshold. Given that many of its seats would go directly to the AKP if it was unable to cross the threshold, votes above all coming from large cities such as İzmir, İstanbul and Ankara enabled the party to cross the threshold. The HDP has now succeeded in surmounting the ten per cent threshold and entering parliament in the three parliamentary elections held since 7 June 2015.

The electorate did not discount it

There was consternation in the party when the HDP’s vote was declared to be in the six per cent band as per the initial results that the Anadolu Agency (AA) made public following the lifting of election prohibitions. The HDP, appearing to be in the region of six per cent at 18.45 in the AA’s data, was shown to have crossed the ten per cent threshold from data on the screens at 20.45. HDP Deputy Co-Chair Saruhan Oluç, noting that the AA had engaged in extreme manipulation, commented, “The AA, by making systematic manipulation, is trying to negatively influence the election.” With around fifteen of the HDP’s MPs being detained in the 26th period, eleven MPs in turn were stripped of their seats. In this period, both the ruling party and the opposition discounted the HDP, acting as if it had no parliamentary presence with regard to many issues. But, the other political parties’ stance towards the HDP did not affect the electorate. The HDP crossed the threshold particularly with the votes it got from the west.

It won around 65 seats

According to the as-yet non-final results, the HDP surmounted the threshold taking around 11-12 per cent of the vote. According to the non-final results, the HDP continues to be the third largest party in parliament after the AKP and CHP. With the HDP holding 59 seats in the 26th period 550-seat parliament, it has gained around 65 seats in the 27th period 600-seat parliament. With the HDP winning all the seats in Hakkâri and Şırnak on 1 November, in yesterday’s elections it ceded one seat each to the AKP in both Hakkâri and Şırnak. The HDP gained around 70% of the vote in Hakkâri and 69% in Şırnak. Its vote fell notably by around ten per cent in the sub-provinces where the HDP polls strongly. The HDP was seen to attract a similar share of the vote as the “No” vote that emerged in the region in the 16 April referendum. The HDP’s 1 November vote in Diyarbakır of 71.32% fell to 67%. Its 64.26% vote in Van declined to 58%. Its 54.85% vote in Tunceli was reduced to 50%. Its 67% vote in Mardin fell to 58%. Its 60.6% vote in Muş declined to 45.9%. There were drops in its 66.8% vote in Ağrı to 62%, its 51.7% vote in Iğdır to 42% and its 48% vote in Bitlis to 41%. There was a decline in its 66.8% vote in Batman to 61.5% and its 57.2% vote in Siirt to 51.5%. The HDP’s vote in Hakkâri, where it obtained the most votes on 1 November with 82%, declined to 70% and in Şırnak from 84% to 69%. The HDP, the first party in eleven provinces according to the non-final results, suffered one loss as against 1 November in terms of the provinces where it came first. With the HDP being the top party in Diyarbakır, Van, Tunceli, Mardin, Muş, Ağrı, Iğdır, Bitlis, Batman, Şırnak, Hakkâri and Siirt on 1 November, it ceded its first place in Bitlis yesterday to the AKP.

HDP’s vote increased in the west

Debate in the run-up to the election as to whether the HDP would cross the threshold led in particular to voters in the west voting tactically and taking the HDP across the threshold. The tactical votes had a direct impact on the election results in the west. The HDP, which took 10.27% of the vote in Istanbul in the 1 November elections, gained 12.5% in yesterday’s elections. Taking 8.89% of the vote in Izmir on 1 November, the HDP got 11.2% in yesterday’s elections. In Ankara, the HDP’s 4.43% vote rose to 6% in yesterday’s elections. The HDP’s Mediterranean vote also increased as against 1 November. Its vote in Mersin increased from 15% to 16% and, while it maintained its 11.9% vote in Adana, in Antalya its 5.8% vote rose to 6.8%. With the HDP presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtaş going down in history as the first candidate from prison in Turkish history, he took around 8% of the vote according to the non-final results. With the votes cast for the HDP in the eastern provinces also observed to go to Demirtaş, Demirtaş did not manage to get as many votes as the HDP did in western provinces. Demirtaş gained around four million votes in 2014 in the election in which he ran against Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu

Detained MPs issue

Despite the passage of several periods and years since the detained MP issue first emerged in the 24th period, it will continue in this period, too. With many figures from the HDP being detained and sent to jail following the lifting of immunities in the 26th period, the only MP to be re-elected having been stripped of his parliamentary seat was CHP Istanbul MP Enis Berberoğlu. In the 27th period, Leyla Güven, who was elected as an HDP MP for Hakkâri, has become an MP while in jail. Alongside the HDP’s Güven, with Enis Berberoğlu being re-elected to parliament while in detention, two figures have been elected as MPs from prison.

SAÇILIK’S UNSUCCESSFUL PARLIAMENTARY BID HDP

Ankara parliamentary candidate Veli Saçılık has announced the failure of his bid to be elected according to the unofficial results. Making a comment on Twitter, Saçılık wrote, “According to the current results, I couldn’t get elected, friends. Resistance in the streets and in parliament against the single-man dictatorship forever.”

Tüm baskılara rağmen HDP barajı geçti