Municipality switched from AKP to CHP spends 4.5 million in last working hour before elections

Duvar English

Haydar İkizer, the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) newly elected mayor of the eastern Kahramanmaraş province’s Pazarcık district, announced that the previous mayor from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) accepted invoices for 4.5 million Turkish liras ($139,000) in the last working hour before the local elections.

İkizer pointed out that in Pazarcık, the epicenter of the Feb. 6 earthquakes, there were more than 5,000 heavily damaged and destroyed buildings and a third of the population is living in container housing units. "The people's desire for change has increased even more with the desperation after the earthquake," he said in an interview with the daily Cumhuriyet.

İkizer underscored that the government sent all ministers and lawmakers from the ruling AKP to the region during the election period and the money and aid materials that were not distributed after earthquakes were distributed during this period.

The mayor also stated that in the last week before the March 31 local elections three engineers from the nearby Elbistan Municipality were transferred to their municipality and made deputy mayors.

"In the past, the municipality had vehicles, yet they had switched to renting system even though it was more costly just for the sake of patronage. When we took the office, there were no trucks, no diggers, or no garbage trucks. The number of staff in the municipality was 257, whereas 150 staff would normally be sufficient,” İkizer added.

The mayor stated that the municipality had a debt of 177 million liras ($5.45M) and said, “Imagine, the annual cost of hosting guests is 800,000 liras.”

After the local elections, many opposition mayors who won the municipalities from the ruling People's Alliance parties revealed their extravagant spending and excessive debts.