The opposition scored a victory in Istanbul and Ankara, Turkey's two main cities. Faced with the economic crisis which is hitting households, the opposition mayors of the two cities were favored by the polling institutes.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in power for more than two decades, had however thrown all his weight into the campaign. The re-election in Istanbul of Ekrem Imamoglu, who appears to be the champion of the opposition to the Turkish president, is already launching him into the race for the 2028 presidential election.