Candidate from Turkey's nationalist MHP wins tight race in Adana
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Aytac Durak representing Turkey's opposition Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, won a tight race for the southern province of Adana, where the distribution of vote counting data was suspended after the two rival candidates ran neck-and-neck, Dogan News Agency reported Monday. (UPDATED)
Incumbent mayor for the country's forth largest city, Durak, was leading the race with 29.95 percent, while his main rival Mehmet Ali Bilici from the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, gained 29.68 percent with nearly 100 ballot boxes remaining to be counted.       Â
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The two leaders were followed by Umit Ozgumus from the Republican People's Party, or CHP, who garnered 26.59 percent of support.Â
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The agency said that in the constituency where nearly 800,000 ballots were cast, the vote difference between Durak and Bilici was just 2,057, as it declared the MHP victory in the city.Â
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The data distributor had earlier suspended the flow from  Durak, 71, was running for a fifth term under his fourth political party. When he won the municipal elections in 1984, he was a member of the late President Turgut Ozal’s Motherland Party, or ANAP. He lost the elections five years later to a Republican People’s Party, or CHP, candidate. He won the seat again in 1994 and 1999 as a member of the True Path Party, or DYP. In 2004 he again shifted his alliance to run on the AKP ticket.