​Istanbul at razor’s edge, Erdogan downcast

TURKEY - In Brief 31 Mar 2019 by Atilla Yesilada

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At 22:48 Turkey time, with 96% of the votes counted, Yildirim’s lead in Istanbul shrank to 60K votes, as the few opposition TV channels began to complain about irregularities.In some of the less pro-AKP channels, impartial experts still predict Yildirim winning by 30K votes or so, and being so far away from Turkey, I withhold personal judgment at this point.I’m certain, CHP will demand a recount and I shall base my conclusions on the statements and reports of international poll watchers. I’mconfident in conceding Izmir, Ankara, Antalya and Adana to CHP, as well. At a national level though, AKP-MHP are still shown at 52%, which had allowed Erdogan to claim victory in a brief press conference in Istanbul, where he looked downcast but vindictive. It appears MHP voters supported AKP candidates contrary to poll findings, as some HDP voters might have stayed home, or migrated to AKP because of concerns about public service provision.I need to hear from HDP about the fairness of the ballot to reach a firm conclusion. Returning to Erdogan, he confirmed that he shall make his traditional Balcony Speech later on, where he might give some clues on post-election course in domestic policy. The initial signs are not encouraging. He associated HDP with terror, again, claiming that AKP-MHP viewpoint of this election being about national unity was widely accepted by the nation. There were no peace offerings, or even words of sympathy for the opposition. Some cities are still too close to call, but as I predicted, with roughly 10% of the vote still to be counted the Anatolian Agency continues to report pro-CHP districts last, hence the results could change somewhat in favor of CHP-IYIP....