AK Party sustains slight loss at polls in industrialized cities amid financial crisis
Posted by meb at April 5th, 2009
Despite the oppressive effects of the ongoing global financial crisis and the sentiments many have long been expressing that, particularly in the industrialized provinces, the ruling party would experience serious losses in the March 29 local elections, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) sustained only minor damage from the elections, having eventually garnered the majority of the votes in these cities.
One of the best examples of this is Bursa, the car manufacturing hub of Turkey, which has experienced a sharp contraction in exports and production whilst thousands of people have lost their jobs since the crisis began. However, the ruling AK Party candidate collected 43 percent of the votes in the municipal elections, an indicator that the crisis had little effect on the people of Bursa when they made their choice.
Industrialized cities elect AK Party candidates
In Bursa the unemployment figures reached 13,773 in just the first two months of 2009 as several major car manufacturers and auto parts producers, such as Tofaş, Oyak-Renault and Bosch, had no choice but to cut production and dismiss workers. Around 56,700 employees lost their jobs in Bursa in 2008, while only 7,815 new employees were hired during the whole year.
Denizli, one of the leading Anatolian tigers with its textile production potential, has been badly hit by the global crisis and increasing competition from the East. Last year around 31 factories shut their doors in the city, leaving more than 10,000 people jobless.
In Adıyaman, with an industry mainly dependant on the textile and food sectors, 22 factories closed down in 2008, putting 3,500 people out of work. Even so, the AK Party received 49.2 percent of the vote. In Sakarya, which was once among the top 10 export provinces in Turkey, around 3,000 people have lost their jobs in the past two months, but a similar result was found here: The votes for the ruling party constituted 44 percent of those cast. In Kayseri, around 16,000 people have lost their jobs, but the AK Party emerged victorious on the morning of March 30, having secured 52 percent of the vote. Kocaeli, home to major companies such as Ford and Toyota, has seen the worst effects of the crisis on the automotive industry; some 20,000 jobs have been lost and unemployment reached 13.6 percent in December, however, the AK Party candidate garnered 42 percent of the votes cast. In Gaziantep the picture was no brighter — 11 factories have gone into liquidation in the last three months. The AK Party’s votes from the city, however, were around 48 percent. Gaining even more votes from Kahramanmaraş, where 16 factories were closed leaving 14,000 jobless behind, the ruling party came first with more than 50 percent of the vote. An exceptional result came from Diyarbakır, though, where AK Party votes were far from convincing. Of the 52 factories in Diyarbakır’s free trade zone, 49 were badly hit by the crisis, while production plummeted by 34 percent in 2008.
Denizli Chamber of Commerce (DSO) head Müjdat Keçeci told Sunday’s Zaman that the city’s economy has been negatively affected by the crisis. A total of 11,250 people lost their jobs in the period between January 2008 and January 2009 in Denizli. The crisis has particularly started to show its face in the city’s economy which mainly depends on textile production. Exports from the city contracted by 37 percent in the first three months of 2009 as compared to the same period in 2008. Looking at the election results, the ruling party won by a wide margin in Denizli, but their votes have declined in comparison to the 2007 results. It is certain the effects of the crisis were openly felt in the elections in this city.
It seems that people were more interested in the personality of the mayoral candidate than the party itself and as people were content with the services of the mayor, the majority chose him. The electorate expects the government to focus more on taking steps to deflect the crisis, to enhance exports and create new job opportunities. Production urgently needs to be boosted. The increasing energy prices are a large burden to companies, and they have difficulty securing loans. Incentives need to be found for the textile sector to alleviate the problems.
Crisis had little effect on elections
Dr. İbrahim Öztürk of Marmara University said the crisis had only slightly affected the elections. “The crisis has only slightly touched the government,” he said, referring to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s recent declaration that the crisis has only slightly touched the Turkish economy. “The government has managed to maintain confidence in the domestic market, and the main agenda was not focused only on the crisis. The stimulus packages and precautions taken by the government have helped ease the burdened economy to some extent and the public empathized with the government. I think people said: ‘In the end, if not this government, who can introduce better policies to weather the storm?’ The answer was ‘no one.’ There is not yet an alternative for the ruling party in Turkey with regard to the management of the economy along with other issues,” he said, adding: “I don’t think people had the crisis on their minds when they went to the ballot box. The government was also successful in dispersing the gloomy atmosphere.”
As for the future of economy amid the crisis, Öztürk suggested that the Turkish economy has seen rock bottom and recovery will come sooner than expected. “I do not think we will encounter such terrible figures in industrial production or capacity utilization from now on; the fall may continue, but slowly this time,” he noted. “I expect a stand-by deal signed with the International Monetary Fund [IMF] will boost morale in the markets, and a positive trend in the economy will commence thereafter. In my opinion, we will come out of the marsh sooner than the global markets,” he added. Kocaeli Chamber of Commerce (KSO) President Ayhan Zeytinoğlu said it is only natural that the city was directly affected by the crisis and that people are also psychologically affected by such a fact. “However, it’s clear that Kocaeli residents are satisfied with the services that the current AK Party local administration has offered in the past five years. It seems that what concerns people most is the quality of local services they receive and not the crisis. At this point it is important to note that this crisis stemmed from external factors and that the government is not to be blamed for it in the first place; this has minimized the effect on people.”
Dr. Sudi Apak from Beykent University said he agreed with the comments that the crisis had had little effect on the elections. “After all, these were local elections, and people still maintain their hope for the future of the economy. There might have been considerable unemployment, but this is a very little rate when compared with around 40 million voters. There were significant problems, for instance, in Denizli; however, the companies over there did not lay so many workers off because they were prepared for the crisis. The problems are not felt in every sector, but in a few,” he said. Apak said he expected a recovery will come by the beginning of 2010 and that the reinvigoration of foreign demand is also of the utmost importance. The Turkish economy mainly depends on exports but is not entirely integrated with global markets. Such facts have protected the economy from the destructive waves to some extent.
Dr. Seyfettin Gürsel of Bahçeşehir University said he believed the crisis has affected the ruling party negatively in the elections. “When you look at the city council figures, you can see that the ruling party has garnered fewer votes than in the 2007 local elections. I would have been surprised if the current crisis had not shown its effect on the election results; however, we cannot relate the whole outlook solely to the crisis,” he opined.
source: Sunday’s Zaman
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