Yesterday, Sunday 12th June, Turkish citizens voted in general elections. 

The result, at a national level, is another clear majority for the ruling party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP), albeit with fewer seats in parliament.  The Republican People's Party (CHP) came second. 

However, here in Kalkan, the result was CHP first, with 875 votes, and AKP second, with 614 votes.  In this report, in words and images, we give you a flavour of what the election was like in Kalkan.

The build up
You can read some background on the pre-election build up in our previous news article, published on Thursday 9th June.  KTLN report - click here.

On Friday there was lots of noise around Kalkan, with vehicles pumping up the volume as they drove round, in an attempt to stir the party faithful.

During the week, parties also held rallies to encourage any undecided voters to support them.  Strangely, Saturday was very quiet indeed.  All the flags and bunting were gone in the morning.

The day of the election - preparations
In Kalkan, the focus of events was the main school, where the organisers turned up early, to prepare for an 8 o'clock start. 

Between the hours of 08.00 and 17.00, potentially, 2,558 eligible Kalkan voters may come through the doors. 

On the first floor, the staff room kitchen was geared up to dispense hundreds of glasses of çay, and there were lots of plastic bottles of water on hand.  (The sale and consumption of alcohol is banned on election day).

In order to deal with so many people, the school opened up 9 classrooms, on the ground, 1st and 2nd floors.  Each one was equipped with a voting box (sandık), two voting booths, and a dedicated team of staff.  At all times there was a minimum of 2 independent government workers (many of them school teachers), plus at least one representative from the local political parties.

As people arrived, some had got slips of paper telling them which room they needed to go to, and others just came along with their ID cards, and were helpfully directed to the right room. 

Below: One of Kalkan's oldest residents, Enişte, gets help to find out which voting room he needs.

One poor guy came all the way from his place of work by the harbour, only to discover he had forgotten his ID card, so he had to go all the way back to get it.

It was interesting to see so many familiar Kalkan faces walking through the doors to vote.  Normally, we walk down the street past them, and their shops, restaurants and offices, but this time they were doing the walking - through the school doors, and up the stairs. 

On a hot and sunny day, they all came - restaurant owners, shopkeepers, waiters, taxi drivers, estate agents, retired people, and so on.

Below: Kalkan Mayor, Saim Karakurt coming downstairs, after casting his vote.

Friendly atmosphere
There was a very pleasant, and friendly atmosphere in the school, and there was clearly a social aspect to the day.  Families came out to vote - husbands and wives, with their parents or children.  As they arrived, some would spot friends, and lots of hand-shaking, hugging and kissing ensued.

As far as we could see, all the political representatives in attendance, conducted themselves in a thoroughly proper manner.  It was all fairly amicable, with many of them laughing and joking with their political rivals.

Casting a vote
The voting process was quite straightforward.  First, voters had to find out which room they should be voting in.  They identified themselves to the officials, who checked them off, on their list.  They were asked to sign next to their name on the list, to show they had attended.  In Turkey, you can be fined if you fail to exercise your franchise.

The officer in charge then handed them a ballot paper, showing all 14 political parties, which as you can see from the photo below, is extremely long. 

They were given a rubber stamp, which would print the word "EVET" (YES) in the circle, for their chosen party.  (See above).  Voters went behind a curtain into the voting booth to apply the stamp, and place the ballot paper in a yellow envelope.

They emerged from the booth to place their envelope into a large perspex ballot box (sandık), and that was it.  All done.

Counting the votes
As the deadline of 5pm approached, the atmosphere became a little more subdued and tense.  Inside and outside the school, people huddled in groups to discuss the days events - no doubt trying to second guess the result.  More people arrived to watch the opening of the boxes and the counting. 

The Jandarma also turned up - not that there was any trouble - in fact the whole day ran very smoothly in Kalkan.  That wasn't the case everywhere.  In a neighbouring village, the Jandarma were called out to sort out some fisticuffs, over an official helping a blind person to vote.  It was a relatively minor event.

A few minutes after 5pm, the seals were broken on the ballot boxes.  In all 9 rooms, the officials carefully counted the envelopes, and then proceeded to open them, in front of a panel of representatives from the main political parties.  There were assorted bystanders observing from the corridor, poking their heads round the door.

One by one, the ballot papers were taken out of the envelopes, unfolded and held up for all to see, and the name of the party was read out loud.

Interestingly, the election officers had different styles, for displaying the voting papers.  In one room, the officer held them aloft, above his head, like a football fan waving a scarf.  Some wafted them slowly and deliberately along the row of observers, whilst others offered only a fleeting glimpse, before moving swiftly on to the next ballot paper.

The official responsible for keeping count, marked the tally sheet, whilst at the same time, the scrutineers from each party made a note on their own note pads and scraps of paper.

As the count progressed, people scurried, impatiently from room to room, trying to keep a running total, and reporting back to local party leaders.  

The result
Shortly before 18.30, all the votes had been counted, and the final tally was CHP 875 votes; AKP 614 votes and MHP 357 votes.  There were a smaller number of votes for some of the other parties. 

There were a few smiles, but no great celebrations from the winners.  This may have been due to the fact that nationally, a different 'big picture' was emerging.

People in Kalkan were voting for 14 MPs from the Antalya region, to represent them in the parliament (Meclis), in Ankara.

Read more about the bigger picture here:

BBC News online

Hurriyet Daily News

Today's Zaman 

Kalkan Turkish Local News - your window on Kalkan Turkey