Turkish President Erdogan’s party big loser in local elections: ‘We will respect results’

UpdateTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party fared poorly in Sunday’s local elections. With 99.8 percent of the votes counted, the opposition CHP party is at 37.7 percent and Erdogan’s ruling party AKP is at 35.5 percent. In the previous local elections in 2019, the AKP won with almost 45 percent of the votes.

The opposition is doing well, especially in the cities. In Istanbul, the center-left Republican People’s Party (CHP) leads with 51.1 percent of the votes. Erdogan’s party follows with 39.6 percent. In the capital Ankara the difference is even greater, with 60.4 percent for the CHP compared to 31.7 percent for the AKP.

In those two cities the opposition was already in power, but the gains were greater than five years ago. In Istanbul, incumbent CHP mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu claimed victory on Sunday night. In Ankara, Mayor Mansur Yavas did the same.

Turks celebrate CHP victory after Erdogan’s party defeat, text continues below video:

‘Historically bad for AKP’

Observers are talking about a ‘historically bad result’ for the Islamic-conservative AKP. “Unfortunately, we did not achieve the results we had hoped for,” Erdogan said in his speech at his party’s headquarters in the capital Ankara, before an unusually quiet crowd of supporters.

He vowed to respect the election results, adding that his party will self-criticize and address shortcomings. “The election cycle is now over,” he said with a mix of disappointment and relief. The cycle, which exhausted the Turkish economy, started in May last year with the presidential elections.

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President Erdogan during his speech at the headquarters of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the capital Ankara. © AFP

Hope of the opposition

The election cycle in Turkey started on May 14 last year with the presidential elections. In the first round, Erdogan managed to win a majority over his challenger, opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu. They finished with 49.5 percent and 44.89 percent of the votes respectively. The difference between Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu was ‘only’ 2.5 million votes.

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu during his speech to supporters at the main municipal building in Turkey’s largest city. © AFP

In the second round, on May 28, Erdogan won 52.1 percent of the vote compared to 47.9 percent for Kilicdaroglu. “These were the most unfair elections in Turkey in years,” the 74-year-old opposition leader said in his speech in Ankara. He promised to continue his fight for democracy in Turkey and asked his supporters to support him in this.

Presidential candidate

The result was a setback for the opposition, which had hoped to continue its gains in the 2019 local elections and unite with six parties behind one candidate. That could now be Imamoglu. If he gets a second term as mayor, there is a good chance that he will become the opposition’s presidential candidate in 2028.

Erdogan said earlier this month that these municipal elections will be the last elections in which he will actively participate. He is therefore no longer a candidate for the 2028 presidential elections. He has been president of Turkey since 2014, before which he had been in power as prime minister for eleven years.