Local Elections in Turkey. Erdogan’s Party Has Suffered Its Biggest Electoral Defeat In The Last Two Decades

Counting of nearly 99% of votes nationwide confirms that the Turkish opposition has dealt the head of state’s AKP (Islamist-conservative) party its biggest electoral disaster in two decades.

The main opposition party, the CHP (Social Democrat), claimed victory in Istanbul and Ankara, Turkey’s two largest cities, and captured many others, including Bursa, a large industrial city in the northwest that has been under AKP control since 2004. .

The announcement of the final results by the High Electoral Commission (YSK) expected on Monday, April 1, will confirm these results.

From his party’s Ankara headquarters and before a hushed crowd, the Turkish president vowed to “respect the nation’s decision.”

Shortly before, the acting mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, announced his re-election as the head of Turkey’s largest city, which he won in 2019, without waiting for the proclamation of the official results.

Ekrem Imamoglu, in front of his supporters

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Istanbul Mayor: “Democracy Will Spread”

“Tonight, democracy will spread (…) in the markets, on the streets, in the universities, in the cafes and restaurants of Istanbul”, declared the mayor of the city in front of tens of thousands of supporters, gathered at the mayor’s office, under a wave of red Turkish and smoke flags.

In Ankara, CHP Mayor Mansur Yavas, with a considerable lead, also claimed victory, declaring to an enthusiastic crowd that “those who have been ignored have sent a clear message to those who run this country.”

“Voters have chosen to change the face of Turkey,” CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said.

In addition to Izmir (west), the country’s third city and CHP stronghold, and Antalya (south), where opposition partisans began celebrating victory in the streets, the main opposition formation made spectacular progress in Anatolia.

Erdogan, 21 years in power, got personally involved in the campaign, especially in Istanbul, the “jewel” of the country, its economic and cultural capital, where he was mayor in the 90s and which switched to the opposition in 2019.

But the commitment of the head of state, who announced at the beginning of March that these elections are “the last for him”, was not enough.

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Throughout the campaign, Erdogan attended daily rallies, enjoying unlimited airtime on public television, where his opponents were almost completely ignored.

AKP candidates, however, remained in the lead in several large cities in Anatolia (Konya, Kayseri, Erzurum) and the Black Sea (Rize, Trabzon), strongholds of President Erdogan, while the pro-Kurdish party DEM and -secured a comfortable advance in several large cities in the Kurdish-majority southeast, including Diyarbakir, the unofficial capital of Turkey’s Kurds.

For many observers, once elected, the mayor of Istanbul will have an open path to the 2028 presidential elections.

Photo: Hepta