DEM Party candidate appeals Turkish court’s ruling

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) candidate Abdullah Zeydan, on Wednesday told Kurdistan24 that they had appealed the Turkish court’s ruling in the Turkish Supreme Election Council in an effort to reclaim their rights.

"The Kurdish citizens' protest against the ruling is within the framework of the democratic process and we are the owners of the will of our people," Zeydan added.

Selahattin Demirtas, co-leader of the Peoples' Democratic Party, issued a message of protest against the judicial system of Turkey’s ruling, saying those who do not respect the will of the people have not learned a lesson from last year.

Demirtas also called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to accept the will of the people of Van province.

The preliminary results of the Turkish local elections indicate that Zeydan won with 55% of the vote in Van province. Van is a Kurdish-populated province located in eastern Turkey (Bakur). 

 Meanwhile, the governor of Van on Wednesday imposed a 15-day ban on all mass gatherings to prevent mass demonstrations in support of DEM Party candidate.

Protests hold in Batman, Gever, Hakkari, Sirnak, Mardin, Diyarbakir, Siirt, Silvan, Izmir, Manisa and Istanbul to support DEM Party candidate.

On 31 March, Turkey held local elections in all 81 of its provinces. Thirty metropolitan mayors and 1,363 district municipal mayors were elected, as well as 1,282 provincial and 21,001 municipal councilors.

Over 61 million people were eligible to vote in the election. Although 100% of the votes were cast, only preliminary results have been announced so far, and the final results will be announced following complaints.