Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday night that Turkey had completed local elections in a manner befitting its democracy.
The Turkish President’s speech came in a speech he delivered from the balcony of the (ruling) Justice and Development Party headquarters in the capital, Ankara, after the majority of ballot boxes had been counted in the local elections.
President Erdogan explained that the Turkish people conveyed their message to politicians through the ballot boxes.
He said: “Thank God, we completed the local elections in a manner befitting our democracy.”
He added: “Regardless of the results, the winner of these elections is our democracy and our national will.”
Erdogan considered the March 31 local elections a turning point.
He explained: “March 31 is not the end for us, but in fact it is a turning point.”
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He said that all voters in the elections won these elections, whether those who elected the Justice and Development Party or the “Public Alliance” (parties allied with the Justice and Development) or those who strengthened the power of the ballot boxes by using their democratic right to vote.
The Turkish President added that the Justice and Development Party did not get what it had hoped for in the results of the local elections.
He assured the Turkish people that the party would conduct self-criticism with full transparency and courage.
Erdogan stressed that his party has always shown respect for democracy and what emerges from the ballot boxes.
He said: “Today we act with the same sense of responsibility and do not recognize any force above the will of the people.”
According to unofficial preliminary results, the opposition Republican People’s Party topped the elections, obtaining more than 37 percent of the votes across the country, and the Justice and Development Party came second with more than 35 percent of the votes after 93 percent of the votes were counted.
