Gökçek victorious in Ankara in the face of stiff competition
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by İzgi Güngör
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Nisan 01, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - For many political observers, the AKP’s candidate for Ankara, Mayor Melih Gökçek’s victory is an expected outcome taking into account the central government’s support as well as the possible positive role of the much-criticized municipal aid packages distributed to Ankara’s outskirt, which are main the basis of his political support.
Despite Melih Gökçek recapturing the mayor’s seat for a record fourth time, votes for the ruling party dropped drastically in Sunday’s local election, from 55 percent in 2004 to 38.5 percent, a sharp decrease of 16.5 percent.
Ankara experiences a competitive election race between the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, and the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP. Despite a double-pronged challenge from the CHP and the MHP, the AKP’s Melih Gökçek won a fourth term as mayor in the capital. Gökçek won the race with 38.5 percent of the vote, while the CHP’s Murat Karayalçın received 31.5 percent and the MHP’s Mansur Yavaş garnered 26.9 percent.
Victory for Gökçek
For many political observers, Gökçek’s victory is an expected outcome taking into account the central government’s support as well as the possible positive role of the much-criticized municipal aid packages distributed to Ankara’s outskirts. The AKP’s dominance in Ankara’s outskirts such as Altındağ, Akyurt, Mamak and Sincan is thus deemed a clear indication of this thesis. The decay in the AKP’s votes in the capital, meanwhile, stemmed from the aggressive manners of worn-out Gökçek, according to many.
"Gökçek’s peevish and aggressive manners have not been approved by or welcomed by the electorates. They gave a warning to Gökçek and said, ’Be careful and avoid creating conflicts,’" journalist Şükrü Küçükşahin of daily Hürriyet told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.
The corruption claims leveled at Gökçek and a televised debate between Gökçek and the CHP’s Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, which was dominated by Gökçek’s aggressive attitudes, already decreased Gökçek’s popularity in the public, leading to a drop in AKP’s votes in the capital in the surveys. Even the AKP supporters expressed dissatisfaction with what they saw on TV. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s delaying the AKP’s decision for Ankara mayoral candidate was also seen as a clear indication of Erdoğan’s hesitancy over Gökçek’s nomination and political analysts commented that Erdoğan chose Gökçek as a candidate again because he had no other choice in hand and no other strong contender.
The political parties attached the utmost importance to the local elections as they viewed the race as a rehearsal for general elections and came up with strong candidates. The MHP picked Beypazarı’s successful Mayor Mansur Yavaş, who developed Ankara’s Beypazarı district from a town to a center of attraction in Central Anatolia, and the CHP went to a left-wing alliance with the Social Democratic People’s Party, or SHP.
Fourth term in power
After decades of attempts to win the mayoral post in Ankara, the CHP was optimistic in these elections and planned to make a strong leap forward in AKP-run Ankara with an experienced name, former Ankara Mayor Murat Karayalçın, who is also a former SHP leader.
The earlier surveys and comments said the race was likely to take place between Gökçek and Karayalçın but Yavaş gained a great deal of popularity recently in Ankara, with the polls showing him in the first or second rank. Despite Gökçek’s triumph, the AKP lost its dominance in the six districts and a significant proportion of its votes went to the MHP, which hit a peak in capital, increasing its votes from 4.5 percent in 2004 to 26.9 percent with Yavaş.
Karayalçın increased the CHP’s votes from 12.6 in 2004 to 31.5 percent, but his efforts were not enough to win the mayoral post in Ankara. The AKP won the race in 14 of Ankara’s districts, the MHP in seven and the CHP in four. The AKP lost the large Yenimahalle to the CHP as well as the large Gölbaşı, where the MHP was victorious. The CHP managed to maintain its decades of dominance in Ankara’s Çankaya district, the social democrats’ stronghold.
Surveys manipulate votes in Ankara
For political observers, what played a crucial role in Yavaş’s rising popularity were his peaceful and moderate personality and the Ankara citizens’ weariness with Gökçek. Karayalçın, meanwhile, was the wrong choice and the lack of coordination between the Republican People's Party, or CHP, and Karayalçın also played a role in the party's disappointment in Ankara, according to political observers.
"The CHP was hopeful in these elections. It joined efforts with the SHP (Social Democratic Peoples' Party) and the electorates were pretty satisfied with these developments. However, the major handicap was the lack of coordination between the CHP headquarters and Karayalçın himself," said Küçükşahin.
"The main responsibility, however, belongs to Karayalçın as he acted like a leader not a mayoral candidate. He didn’t display a successful performance during the campaign," said Küçükşahin.
He said Yavaş displayed a fairly successful campaign process and embraced a great success. He created a great show during the campaign and his campaign rhetoric Ğ that Ankara had removed the two already tried names, Karayalçın and Gökçek, and that he was a breath of fresh air Ğ was also welcomed by the electorates. Some of his votes came from the AKP.
Ankara experiences a competitive election race between the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, and the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP. Despite a double-pronged challenge from the CHP and the MHP, the AKP’s Melih Gökçek won a fourth term as mayor in the capital. Gökçek won the race with 38.5 percent of the vote, while the CHP’s Murat Karayalçın received 31.5 percent and the MHP’s Mansur Yavaş garnered 26.9 percent.
Victory for Gökçek
For many political observers, Gökçek’s victory is an expected outcome taking into account the central government’s support as well as the possible positive role of the much-criticized municipal aid packages distributed to Ankara’s outskirts. The AKP’s dominance in Ankara’s outskirts such as Altındağ, Akyurt, Mamak and Sincan is thus deemed a clear indication of this thesis. The decay in the AKP’s votes in the capital, meanwhile, stemmed from the aggressive manners of worn-out Gökçek, according to many.
"Gökçek’s peevish and aggressive manners have not been approved by or welcomed by the electorates. They gave a warning to Gökçek and said, ’Be careful and avoid creating conflicts,’" journalist Şükrü Küçükşahin of daily Hürriyet told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.
The corruption claims leveled at Gökçek and a televised debate between Gökçek and the CHP’s Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, which was dominated by Gökçek’s aggressive attitudes, already decreased Gökçek’s popularity in the public, leading to a drop in AKP’s votes in the capital in the surveys. Even the AKP supporters expressed dissatisfaction with what they saw on TV. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s delaying the AKP’s decision for Ankara mayoral candidate was also seen as a clear indication of Erdoğan’s hesitancy over Gökçek’s nomination and political analysts commented that Erdoğan chose Gökçek as a candidate again because he had no other choice in hand and no other strong contender.
The political parties attached the utmost importance to the local elections as they viewed the race as a rehearsal for general elections and came up with strong candidates. The MHP picked Beypazarı’s successful Mayor Mansur Yavaş, who developed Ankara’s Beypazarı district from a town to a center of attraction in Central Anatolia, and the CHP went to a left-wing alliance with the Social Democratic People’s Party, or SHP.
Fourth term in power
After decades of attempts to win the mayoral post in Ankara, the CHP was optimistic in these elections and planned to make a strong leap forward in AKP-run Ankara with an experienced name, former Ankara Mayor Murat Karayalçın, who is also a former SHP leader.
The earlier surveys and comments said the race was likely to take place between Gökçek and Karayalçın but Yavaş gained a great deal of popularity recently in Ankara, with the polls showing him in the first or second rank. Despite Gökçek’s triumph, the AKP lost its dominance in the six districts and a significant proportion of its votes went to the MHP, which hit a peak in capital, increasing its votes from 4.5 percent in 2004 to 26.9 percent with Yavaş.
Karayalçın increased the CHP’s votes from 12.6 in 2004 to 31.5 percent, but his efforts were not enough to win the mayoral post in Ankara. The AKP won the race in 14 of Ankara’s districts, the MHP in seven and the CHP in four. The AKP lost the large Yenimahalle to the CHP as well as the large Gölbaşı, where the MHP was victorious. The CHP managed to maintain its decades of dominance in Ankara’s Çankaya district, the social democrats’ stronghold.
Surveys manipulate votes in Ankara
For political observers, what played a crucial role in Yavaş’s rising popularity were his peaceful and moderate personality and the Ankara citizens’ weariness with Gökçek. Karayalçın, meanwhile, was the wrong choice and the lack of coordination between the Republican People's Party, or CHP, and Karayalçın also played a role in the party's disappointment in Ankara, according to political observers.
"The CHP was hopeful in these elections. It joined efforts with the SHP (Social Democratic Peoples' Party) and the electorates were pretty satisfied with these developments. However, the major handicap was the lack of coordination between the CHP headquarters and Karayalçın himself," said Küçükşahin.
"The main responsibility, however, belongs to Karayalçın as he acted like a leader not a mayoral candidate. He didn’t display a successful performance during the campaign," said Küçükşahin.
He said Yavaş displayed a fairly successful campaign process and embraced a great success. He created a great show during the campaign and his campaign rhetoric Ğ that Ankara had removed the two already tried names, Karayalçın and Gökçek, and that he was a breath of fresh air Ğ was also welcomed by the electorates. Some of his votes came from the AKP.