One of the most debated issues after the election results were revealed has been the increase and decrease in the number of votes that the Democratic Party of Peoples (HDP) got. Despite a serious increase in the city centers, especially in the three major cities (Ankara, İstanbul and İzmir), the decrease of the vote rates in Kurdish cities such as Diyarbakır stood out.
There is a significant increase in HDP votes compared to the November 1, 2015, general elections. The results of June 24 is remarkable in terms of approaching to the same band the party was in June 7, 2015 elections. This result has been achieved mainly because of the votes received from large cities and coastal towns. However, although HDP increased its total number of MPs by 11, it still could not catch the number of 80 deputies it achieved in the 7 June elections.
In the general elections held on June 7, 2015, HDP surpassed the threshold for the first time alone and achieved its first great success. HDP, which made 80 deputies into the parliament, got a rate of 13.12 percent with 6 million 58 thousand votes. The party had sent two ministers to the interim election government, but declined to 10.76 percent on 5 November, with the repeat of the elections. In the elections held yesterday, the HDP, which received 11,63 percent of the total votes with 5,677 thousand votes secured 68 seats in the parliament. The increase in the participation rate of this election led to a significant change in the number of votes despite the rate of votes have been similar to those of the past years.
‘THE DEPOSITED VOTES’
The city centres such as Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir constituted the main centres of the increase in the HDP's votes and the party has reached the highest number of votes it ever got from these centres. This increase in the urban centres in the West brought about the "deposited votes" debate once again as it was on the rise in the June 7th elections. A well-known columnist Abdülkadir Selvi, who is known for his close relationship with the ruling party, stated that "HDP has a new credit". "We see that the family sharing made by the CHP electorate, as one vote for HDP and one vote for CHP, is reflected in the results", he added.
It is estimated that half of the voters of HDP are young people between the ages of 18-32. The polls also show that HDP has the poorest voter base.
6 PERCENT DECREASE IN DİYARBAKIR
The vote rate in Diyarbakır, where HDP had the most number of deputies among the Kurdish cities, fell below the November 1 elections. There are other Kurdish cities experienced a similar decrease as in Diyarbakır whose HDP votes dropped by 6 percent and closed with 72 percent. Besides the loss of votes in Şırnak with 14 percent, it is seen that the votes decreased in Muş, Bitlis and Siirt as well.
DRAMATIC INCREASE IN BIG CITIES AND COASTAL REGIONS
HDP, which received 10.27 percent of the votes in Istanbul in the elections of November 1, 2015, reached 12.5 percent in yesterday's elections, receiving the highest percentage ever. The party received 4.43 percent of the votes on November 1 in Ankara and reached 6 percent on June 24. It also increased the vote rate from 8.89% to 11% in İzmir. The rate of votes in coastal cities such as Mersin and Antalya also increased.
