Local elections in Turkey, partial results: Erdogan on course to be defeated in Istanbul and major cities

The current mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, who is also the main candidate of the opposition party CHP, is leading against Murat Kurum (the candidate of President Recep Erdogan’s AKP party) in the local elections in Istanbul, reports Reuters.

Imamoglu currently has 49.09 percent of the vote, while Erdogan’s candidate has 42.83 percent of the vote, after partial counting of 3.67 percent of the ballots, according to data published by Turkish TV stations.

The opposition is also leading Erdogan’s candidates in the capital Ankara and other major cities in the country, reports the BBC.

Both Imamoglu, in Istanbul, and Mansur Yavas – the incumbent mayor of Ankara who is now running for a new term – are seen as potential Turkish opposition candidates for the 2028 presidential election.

Millions of Turks are voting in local elections on Sunday to decide who will lead their biggest cities. The big stakes are Istanbul and Ankara, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has yet another major popularity test to wrest administrations from the opposition, which will ensure total control and perhaps even a new mandate after 2028.

Now Erdogan, who was born in this megacity of 16 million, wants his administration back and Sunday’s vote is close.

Last year’s earthquakes in southern Turkey killed more than 53,000 people, and seismologists warn that a devastating earthquake could hit Istanbul at any moment. Plans to demolish old, dilapidated buildings and build earthquake-resistant buildings are high on the AKP agenda.

President Erdogan and his ministers have made the recapture of Istanbul a personal goal, promising a new era starting on March 31. “Istanbul will be returned to its rightful owner,” he promised hundreds of thousands of supporters at a rally in the city. Erdogan is 70 years old and has said in the past that this will be his last election. He is in his third term as president and cannot govern beyond 2028, according to the constitution.

Publisher: ML

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