Ertuğrul Kürkçü in Parliament

Ertuğrul Kürkçü, independent candidate of the Labour, Democracy and Freedom Block, has won a seat in parliament in yesterday's general elections in Turkey.

Kürkçü gained about 9.7 percent of the electorate in Mersin, a city on the eastern Mediterranean coast. Compared to the result of the independent candidate in previous parliamentary elections in2007, this is an increase of 3 percentage points in the overall result which corresponds to an increase of 30 percent in the number of votes.

In an initial statement made on Sunday (12 June) Kürkçü told bianet:

"This is a considerable increase compared to previous elections. I think once we have the final results, we will have passed 10 percent both in absolute numbers and in the ratio. We will have gained about 100,000 votes. This was the target I had in mind. We changed the fate of Mersin. Last minute failures have come to an end here. With hard work Mersin has obtained the right to enter the parliament with a socialist politician. We are opening a gateway towards peace, democracy and socialism. We have reached a higher podium from where we will continue saying what we have to say. It was a difficult threshold but we passed it. We are very happy".

"As far as I can see, our colleagues were not satisfied with the votes received in the Mediterranean region. They were expecting a much higher outcome. The results in regions like Mezitli or Yenişehir exceeded expectations on the other hand. Votes in Tarsus turned out to have doubled. These votes were mainly the votes of new young Kurdish voters. Over all I can say that we have improved".

Evaluation of the general outcome

"The AKP [Justice and Development Party] gained more votes than I expected whereas the CHP [Republican People's Party] gained less. Unfortunately, there will be an unpropitious distribution of seats in parliament. The distribution of members of parliament turns out the way I expected it. The relation between the percentage of votes and the number of MPs seems to be established in a correct way now. The APK will not be able to design a new constitution single-handedly. This is very good".

"The MHP electorate considered their dignity to be offended and harmed. This was not an ideological but a moral choice for the MHP", Kürkçü said in reference to the MHP's "cassette scandal". (ÇT/VK)