Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) failed to capture the city halls of Istanbul and Ankara in local elections. The president called the results a turning point and acknowledged that his party did not achieve the desired results. The Republican People’s Party (CHP), Turkey’s largest opposition party, made unexpectedly large gains. This follows from the election results after counting almost all the votes, Reuters and AP reported today.
In Istanbul, the incumbent mayor of Turkey’s largest city, Ekrem Imamoglu (CHP), who is now seen as Erdogan’s main political rival, won by a wide margin. Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş also defended his position, even with a lead of 25 percentage points over the challenger.
Combined, the CHP won 35 out of 81 provinces, including the five most populous cities, while Erdogan’s conservative Islamic Justice and Development Party (AKP) won 24 provinces. The CHP got a combined 37.7 percent of the vote, while the AKP got 35.5 percent. At the same time, voter turnout reached 78 percent. According to the AP, this is the CHP’s biggest electoral victory since Erdogan seized power two decades ago.
In a speech from the balcony of the presidential palace on Sunday evening, Erdogan already admitted defeat and promised that his party would undergo a courageous self-critical analysis based on this message from the citizens. “Unfortunately, nine months after our victory in the May 28 (presidential and parliamentary) elections, we failed to get the result we wanted in the test of local elections,” admitted the president. “We will correct our mistakes and eliminate our shortcomings,” he added, promising to continue an economic program aimed at fighting inflation.
Sunday’s election was seen as a barometer of Erdogan’s popularity as he seeks to regain control of key urban areas seized by the opposition five years ago. The CHP’s victory in Ankara and Istanbul in 2019 already shook Erdogan’s aura of invincibility, AP wrote.
According to Reuters, the 53-year-old re-elected mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, is emerging as the main challenger to Erdogan’s government. In some ways, he is following in his footsteps. Erdogan, too, was Istanbul’s mayor in the 1990s, both hail from the eastern Black Sea region, and both played soccer in their youth.
Imamoglu is seen by many analysts as a possible future Turkish president after Sunday’s elections, writes Reuters. “It’s a huge turning point,” the AP quoted political scientist Seda Demiralp of Istanbul’s Isik University as saying. According to her, voters have sent a message that they are not satisfied with the AKP government.
