The party of Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan took a strong lead in local elections Sunday, despite turbulent months marked by mass protests, corruption scandals and Internet blocks.
If the national trend holds up, it would considerably brighten the outlook for Erdogan, who had gone on a weeks-long campaign marathon ahead of the vote widely seen as a referendum on his 11-year-rule.
Nationwide, his Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) had a 46-27 percent lead in municipal polls over the secular main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), with a third of votes counted, CNN-Turk reported.
While the AKP was also far ahead in the sprawling metropolis Istanbul and many other cities, the race looked tight in the capital Ankara, with Erdogan’s party narrowly leading at 45 against the CHP’s 43 percent, CNN-Turk said.
“Results show us that Erdogan has survived these scandals with very little damage,” Mehmet Akif Okur of Ankara’s Gazi University told AFP.
“Voters believe that if Erdogan falls, they will fall with him. No matter how serious the corruption allegations are, the voters supported Erdogan to keep the status they have acquired under his rule”, Yahoo informs.
