Members went to the polls in the provincial chairmanship primaries held across Turkey by the YENİ Party ahead of its congress process.
In the intra-party elections, while incumbent founding provincial chairs emerged victorious in many provinces, results in some cities were determined by narrow margins.
In the primary held across 39 districts in Istanbul, 74 thousand 663 members cast their votes.
Founding Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik, who ran as the sole candidate, was re-elected with 74 thousand 644 votes.
Stating that the turnout placed a great responsibility on them, Çelik said, "We will not allow the ballot box to be kept away from the nation."
In Ankara, 26 thousand 664 out of 54 thousand 28 members cast their votes in the primary where 5 candidates competed.
İbrahim Karaca, who received more than 70 percent of the votes, came in first with 19 thousand 103 votes.
Following the results, Karaca stated, "The winner has been democracy and our Ankara organization. We have left the primary behind, now the goal is to take power."
HIGHLIGHTED RESULTS BY PROVINCE
| Province | Highlighted result |
|---|---|
| Bursa | Nihat Yeşiltaş came in first with 7 thousand 59 votes; Özgür Şahin received 5 thousand 852 votes. |
| Muğla | Nail Kızıl surpassed Süleyman Girgin with 8 thousand 738 votes. Girgin's vote count was announced as 7 thousand 474. |
| Iğdır | Murat Bekem won with 402 votes; Nizamettin Ada received 400 votes. The race was decided by a 2-vote margin. |
| Artvin | Bedrettin Kalın came in first with 2 thousand 23 votes; Okan Ersöz received 1,695 votes. |
| Kahramanmaraş | Ünal Ateş, the sole candidate, received 3 thousand 216 votes out of 5 thousand 318 registered members. |
| Giresun | Gökhan Şenyürek renewed his mandate by receiving 3 thousand 640 of the 3 thousand 665 votes cast. |
| Edirne | Yücel Balkanlı ranked first with 2 thousand 611 votes; Cumhur Pekdemir received 1,901 votes and Alp Üzmen received 496 votes. |
| Kırıkkale | Onur Yüksel Bozdağ came in first with 928 votes; Eftal Sarısu remained at 221 votes. |
| Diyarbakır | Mehmet Berk received the support of the majority in the primary completed across 17 districts and became a candidate for the congress on October 23. |
Nihat Yeşiltaş, who won the race in Bursa, emphasized in his post-election assessment that intra-party competition was conducted in unity.
Yeşiltaş gave the message, "We are not rivals to each other with Chairman Özgür; our only rival is the AKP government that has abandoned this country to misery."
Bedrettin Kalın, who finished the election ahead in Artvin, also called for unity following the results.
Kalın said, "We cannot achieve success by walking separately; we can succeed all together."
The primary results are expected to determine the preferences of the organizations ahead of the provincial congresses.
News Source: 12punto
