KADEK: CONTINUE TO DEMOCRATIC SERHILDAN from "Kurdish Observer" 05.11.02 KADEK Presidential Council considered the outcome of the elections "collapse of the regime and necessity of a transformation. KADEK made a call to continue to democratic serhildan (popular uprising). KADEK stated that that parties like DSP, ANAP, MHP and DYP had not passed the national electoral threshold showed the necessity to go beyond the existing regime, adding that the non-representation of about 47% of the voters undermined the legitimacy of the national assembly. The statement said the following: "The results express the collapse of the regime and the necessity of a transformation. Steps taken towards democratisation will determine the future of the national assembly of which legitimacy has already been questioned. Therefore all sections of the society will observe the decisions of it and take a stance accordingly. It is why parties like DSP, ANAP, MHP and DYP which are the main political power of the regime have not been able to pass the national electoral threshold. And the fact that CHP could gain much votes although it is supported by the state and capitalists is another proof of why the existing regime must be overthrown." It will not be long-lived The Council considered the victory of AKP as follows: Its victory is in fact a product of reaction against the regime, it is not a lasting development. The legitimacy of the November 3 elections is disputable in every respect. 25% of the voters did not vote. And only 16 million out of 31 million voters are represented in the assembly. And it means that the will 47% of the voters who have voted has not been reflected in the parliament. If we take the non-voters too, 60% of the people are not represented in the parliament. More importantly, representatives from Kurdish provinces in the parliament have a support of 20% of voters. That means, the will of the 80% of the people is not represented in the parliament. So we can say that there is a serious legitimacy problem of the parliament. We cannot expect that such a disputable parliament will be long-lived." Repression on DEHAP affected the outcome Underscoring that efforts to keep the Kurdish people and democratic leftist forces from being represented in the national assembly had cast a shadow over the elections, the KADEK Presidential Council said, "Efforts to close down HADEP and debates on DEHAP until the very last days has affected the results." The statement reminded that local administrators, village guards and heads of tribes had forced people not to vote for DEHAP. The Council continued with words to the effect: "We can say that votes considered invalid has had an effect on the outcome. DEHAP's votes should be around 9% but it was kept around 6% by a conscious intervention. This and the extraordinarily high electoral threshold show that the parliament do not represent the Kurdish people and democratic leftist forces. Therefore the new parliament do not represent the Kurdish people." Rehearsal for power The Council drew attention to the following matters, saying that the block was not enough prepared: "A serious weakness in the organization has limited the potential force to be set into motion. Concrete results by a popular movement that has an overwhelming spontaneity have not been managed due to this weakness. But intense motion has given consciousness and experience to the mases and paved the way for a future success. We can say that it has been a rehearsal for power. If organizational drawbacks and other weakness are eliminated it is possible to be successful in the next local elections and in a possible early election." Conscious democratic action The KADEK Presidential Council made a call to "improve democratic serhildan", calling attention that victory of AKP based on reaction to the existing regime could not be permanent. KADEK stressed the following: "The labor, peace and democracy block will march towards power by passing over the existing temporary situation through democratic serhildan. The future will be secured not by a success based on rage but a success created by conscious democratic serhildan. The struggle for the elections is a rehearsal towards power. KADEK calls on the Kurdish people and socialist democratic forces to strengthen democratic serhildan by taking lessons from their weaknesses."