Some 911,000 of the votes garnered by the Turkish opposition alliance’s İstanbul mayoral candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu on March 31 came from supporters of the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), according to a study published by the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV).
Focusing on swing votes in the İstanbul election, the results of which were canceled by Turkey’s Supreme Election Board (YSK), the study analyzed the 4.16 million votes garnered by İmamoğlu.
The results showed that nearly 2.25 million votes came from Republican People’s Party (CHP) supporters, some 911,000 from HDP supporters, some 657,000 from İYİ (Good) Party supporters, 186,000 from Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) supporters, 29,000 from ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) supporters and 8,000 from Felicity Party (SP) supporters.
The ruling party’s candidate, Binali Yıldırım, garnered around 4.15 million votes, consisting of 3.48 million from AKP supporters, 483,000 from MHP supporters, 38,000 from İYİ Party supporters, 11,000 from CHP supporters, 10,000 from SP supporters and 4,000 from HDP supporters.
Forty-three percent of SP supporters who voted in the June 24, 2018 parliamentary and presidential elections did not cast a ballot in the March 31 İstanbul polls, the study indicated.
Also, 19 percent of HDP, 7 percent of AKP and 6 percent of CHP supporters failed to vote.