Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost significant numbers in the parliamentary election in the earthquake-hit provinces in the southeast, though Recep Tayyip Erdoğan managed to hold on to his vote in the presidential election.
The AKP’s overall vote dropped to 35.5 percent, according to unofficial results, down 13 points from 2018’s 42.49 percent. The decline was significant in the earthquake-hit provinces of Hatay, Gaziantep (Dîlok), Kahramanmaraş (Mereş), Adıyaman (Semsûr), Malatya (Meletî) and Osmaniye. There are some 4.5 million voters in the affected region, comprising 7 percent of the electorate.
The ruling party dropped 6.5 points to 44.93 compared to 2018 in Gaziantep, and 10.5 points to 47.78 in Kahramanmaraş, which was the epicentre of the 7.7 strength earthquake on 6 February. In other affected provinces, the drop was recorded at around 5 percent.
Latest unofficial figures from the Supreme Board of Elections show Erdoğan leading with 49.4 percent of the vote, however, under the current system the elections will most likely continue on to the second round as neither candidate won the required 50 percent majority. The ruling alliance appears to have won the majority in parliament.