Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 held local elections on 29 March 2009. The overal winner was the ruling party Justice and Development Party

Justice and Development Party (Turkey)

The Justice and Development Party , abbreviated JDP in English and AK PARTİ or AKP in Turkish, is a centre-right political party in Turkey. The party is the largest in Turkey, with 327 members of parliament...

, although the party saw a decline in its vote relative to the 2007 general election

Turkish general election, 2007

Turkey's 16th general election was held on July 22, 2007 and resulted in a resounding victory for the incumbent Justice and Development Party...

. The leading opposition party, the social democratic Kemalist CHP

Republican People's Party (Turkey)

The Republican People's Party is a centre-left Kemalist political party in Turkey. It is the oldest political party of Turkey and is currently Main Opposition in the Grand National Assembly. The Republican People's Party describes itself as "a modern social-democratic party, which is faithful to...

, increased its vote share, as did a number of smaller parties including the SP, DTP

Democratic Society Party

The Democratic Society Party was a Kurdish Kurdish nationalist political party in Turkey. The party considered itself social democratic, and had observer status in the Socialist International. It was considered to be the successor of the Democratic People's Party...

 and BBP

Great Union Party

The Great Union Party is a nationalist political party in Turkey, created on January 29, 1993. It is considered to be close to the Grey Wolves organization, and is related to the "Alperen Ocakları" tendency, which operated a synthesis between Islamism and Turkish Nationalism, and separated itself...

, whose party leader Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu

Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu

Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu was a Turkish politician and member of the Parliament of Turkey. He was the leader and founder of the Great Union Party , a right-wing, nationalist political party....

 had died in a helicopter crash

2009 Medair TC-HEK helicopter crash

The 2009 Medair TC-HEK helicopter crash occurred on March 25, 2009 at around 16:00 EET when a Bell 206L-4 LongRanger, tail number TC-HEK, operated by Medair while on a charter flight en route from Çağlayancerit in Kahramanmaraş Province to Yerköy in Yozgat Province struck Mount Keş in central Turkey...

 four days before the election. The third largest party, the Turkish nationalist MHP

Nationalist Movement Party

The Nationalist Movement Party , is a far-right political party in Turkey.In the 2002 general elections, the party had lost its 129 seats as it had won only 8.34% of the national vote...

, enjoyed a more modest vote surge. The election was not contested by Cem Uzan

Cem Uzan

Cem Cengiz Uzan is a Turkish businessman and politician of Bosnian ancestry involved in the media and banking industries, while also chairing the right-populist Young Party. His family's media empire includes both television stations and print media...

's GP

Young Party

The Young Party is a nationalist, statist, secular, republican, political party in Turkey.-2002 elections:Cem Uzan entered politics 90 days before the 2002 elections. Young Party was not eligible to enter the elections and Yeniden Doğuş Partisi was a small party which was eligible to enter...

. The AK Party failed to take certain provinces

Provinces of Turkey

Turkey is divided into 81 provinces, called il in Turkish .A province is administered by an appointed governor , and was formerly termed a "governorate" ....

 it had publicly targeted, such as Diyarbakır

Diyarbakir Province

Diyarbakır Province is a province in eastern Turkey. The province covers an area of 15,355 km² and the population is 1,528,958. The provincial capital is Diyarbakir...

, İzmir

Izmir Province

İzmir Province is a province of Turkey in western Anatolia on the Aegean coast, whose capital is the city of İzmir. On the west it is surrounded by the Aegean sea, and it encloses the Gulf of İzmir. Its area is 11,973 km.2, population 3.948.848 . The population was 3,370,866 in 2000...

 and Urfa, and did not achieve its goal of exceeding 47% of the overall vote.
There was localized fighting in southeastern Turkey, where five people were reported to have been killed and about a hundred injured in election-related violence.

Provincial elections

The provisional results for provincial councils are given below:

Party	Party leader		Vote percentage
AKP Justice and Development Party (Turkey) The Justice and Development Party , abbreviated JDP in English and AK PARTİ or AKP in Turkish, is a centre-right political party in Turkey. The party is the largest in Turkey, with 327 members of parliament...	Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdogan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003 and is chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party , which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He graduated in 1981 from Marmara...	15,257,867	38.99
CHP Republican People's Party (Turkey) The Republican People's Party is a centre-left Kemalist political party in Turkey. It is the oldest political party of Turkey and is currently Main Opposition in the Grand National Assembly. The Republican People's Party describes itself as "a modern social-democratic party, which is faithful to...	Baykal Deniz Baykal Deniz Baykal is a Turkish politician. He was a long-time leader of the Republican People's Party .-Biography:...	9,090,363	23.23
MHP Nationalist Movement Party The Nationalist Movement Party , is a far-right political party in Turkey.In the 2002 general elections, the party had lost its 129 seats as it had won only 8.34% of the national vote...	Bahçeli Devlet Bahçeli Devlet Bahçeli is a Turkish politician and has been the second chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party since 6 July 1997....	6,311,181	16.13
DTP Democratic Society Party The Democratic Society Party was a Kurdish Kurdish nationalist political party in Turkey. The party considered itself social democratic, and had observer status in the Socialist International. It was considered to be the successor of the Democratic People's Party...	Türk Ahmet Türk Ahmet Türk is a Kurdish politician in Turkey. He was the chairman of the former pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party in Turkey and was a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. On December 11, 2009, the Constitutional Court of Turkey voted to ban the DTP, accusing it of connection with PKK...	2,116,684	5.41
SP	Kurtulmuş Numan Kurtulmuş Prof. Dr. Numan Kurtulmuş is a Turkish politician.- His family :Numan Kurtulmuş comes from a prominent Turkish family with a scholarly heritage and impeccable reputation. He is the grandson of the author of a book entitled A Commentary on "I believed in"...	2,028,134	5.18
DP	Soylu	1,450,782	3.71
DSP Democratic Left Party (Turkey) The Democratic Left Party is a Turkish political party founded on November 14, 1985, by Rahşan Ecevit.-1985-1999:The DSP, a social democratic oriented party, was registered on November 14, 1985 by Rahşan Ecevit, wife of Bülent Ecevit, as he was banned from political life after the 1980 coup...	Sezer Zeki Sezer Mehmet Zeki Sezer is a Turkish politician and former chairman of the Democratic Left Party , he was elected in the 6th ordinary party congress in 2004 after the resignation of Bülent Ecevit....	1,073,553	2.74
BBP Great Union Party The Great Union Party is a nationalist political party in Turkey, created on January 29, 1993. It is considered to be close to the Grey Wolves organization, and is related to the "Alperen Ocakları" tendency, which operated a synthesis between Islamism and Turkish Nationalism, and separated itself...	Yazıcıoğlu Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu was a Turkish politician and member of the Parliament of Turkey. He was the leader and founder of the Great Union Party , a right-wing, nationalist political party....	869,772	2.22
ANAVATAN Motherland Party (Turkey) The Motherland Party, was a political party in Turkey. It was founded in 1983 by Turgut Özal. It was merged to Democratic Party in October 2009...	Uzun Salih Uzun Mehmet Salih Uzun is a Turkish politician and former and final leader of the Motherland Party .-Biography:Uzun was born in the northwestern Anatolian town of Gölcük in Kocaeli Province...	294,568	0.75
BTP Independent Turkey Party The Independent Turkey Party is a nationalist and Islamic political party founded on 25 September 2001 by Prof Dr. Haydar Baş. The party flag is red with a white crescent surrounded with a ring of white stars. The party polled 0.5% of the vote in the Turkish general elections of both 2002 and 2007....	H. Baş Haydar Bas Haydar Baş is a Turkish politician who is the chairman of the Independent Turkey Party .-References:...	143,009	0.37
Independents	—	142,241	0.36
İP Workers' Party (Turkey) Workers' Party is political party in Turkey led by Doğu Perinçek. İP has its roots in the Revolutionary Workers and Peasants Party of Turkey , Workers and Peasants Party of Turkey and Socialist Party...	Perinçek Dogu Perinçek Doğu Perinçek is a Turkish politician, leader of the Workers' Party , a scientific socialist organization, and former chairman of the Workers' Party . His first name Doğu means "East" in Turkish.-Personal life:...	100,241	0.26
TKP	E. Baş	68,882	0.18
ÖDP Freedom and Solidarity Party Freedom and Solidarity Party is a left-wing party in Turkey. The party has had limited electoral success, although it controls a number of town halls and is influential in some unions of public employees...	Kozanoğlu	57,193	0.15
EMEP Labour Party (Turkey) Labour Party is a political party in Turkey. Its chairman is Selma Gurkan. The party was founded as Emek Partisi in 1996. Due to its ban by the Constitutional Court, it was refounded with the name Emeğin Partisi , the same year...	Tüzel	43,977	0.11
MP	Edibali	34,847	0.09
HAK-PAR	Bozyel	25,222	0.06
LDP Liberal Democratic Party (Turkey) The Liberal Democratic Party is a liberal party in Turkey. LDP was founded in 1994 as Liberal Parti by Turkish entrepreneur Besim Tibuk. Besim Tibuk was the consultant of Turgut Özal till he died in 17 April 1993...	Toker Cem Toker Cem Toker , is a Turkish politician and the new leader of Liberal Democratic Party of Turkey . He was elected in the fourth ordinary party congress on June 20, 2005.-Early life and career:...	10,904	0.03
BDP Peace and Democracy Party The Peace and Democracy Party ) is a political party in the Republic of Turkey. It succeeded the Democratic Society Party following the closure of the latter party for its alleged connections with the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the EU.The BDP has observer status in the...	Ayzit	6,868	0.02
HYP People's Ascent Party The People's Ascent Party is a Turkish political party founded by the Istanbul MP and theologian Yaşar Nuri Öztürk on 16 February 2005, adopting the principles of a democratic state of law....	Öztürk Yasar Nuri Ozturk Yaşar Nuri Öztürk is a Turkish theologian, lawyer, columnist and a former member of Turkish parliament.He was born on June 22, 1951 in Sürmene, Trabzon and raised in Turkey’s Black Sea region....	5,985	0.02
Total		39,163,652	100

Figures are provisional and will be subject to official review and confirmation.

Great Union Party

Great Union Party

The Great Union Party is a nationalist political party in Turkey, created on January 29, 1993. It is considered to be close to the Grey Wolves organization, and is related to the "Alperen Ocakları" tendency, which operated a synthesis between Islamism and Turkish Nationalism, and separated itself...

 (BBP) leader Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu

Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu

Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu was a Turkish politician and member of the Parliament of Turkey. He was the leader and founder of the Great Union Party , a right-wing, nationalist political party....

 died in a helicopter crash four days before the local elections.

District elections

Elections were also held for district

Districts of Turkey

The 81 provinces of Turkey are divided into 957 districts . In the early Turkish Republic and in the Ottoman Empire, the corresponding unit was the kaza....

 mayors (ilçe başkanı) as well as neighbourhood

Mahalle

Mahalle is an Arabic word, adopted into Turkish which is variously translated as district, quarter, ward, or "neighborhood." It is an official administrative unit in many Middle Eastern countries. In the Ottoman Empire the mahalle was the smallest administrative entity...

 presidents (muhtar).