As of: April 1, 2024, 11:38 a.m
By: Erkan Pehlivan
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There are signs of a defeat for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the local elections in Turkey. The dominance of his AKP is crumbling.
Ankara - The local elections in Turkey could be a disaster for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In the metropolises of Istanbul and Izmir as well as in the capital Ankara, the opposition party CHP is clearly ahead. After counting 43 percent of the votes, the CHP has 38.47 percent nationwide, the AKP only 37.22 percent. Bursa, which has been ruled by the AKP for 20 years, also appears to have a CHP mayor in the future.
Imamoglu appears confident of victory in local elections, but urges caution
The mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu (CHP), initially remained cautious in a press conference shortly after the elections. Although his party is ahead, not all votes have been counted yet. That's what his party's great hope said after breaking the fast in the evening. “The results show the trust in us,” said Imamoglu. However, not all votes have been counted yet. For his party, not only the results in the metropolises of Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara are important, but also successes in the fight for seats in the country's city and district parliaments.
According to preliminary unofficial preliminary results in the Turkish elections, Erdogan's AKP party has lost the mayoral election in the important metropolis of Istanbul. Incumbent Ekrem Imamoglu from the center-left CHP party achieved around 51 percent after almost all votes were counted and was therefore re-elected, as the state news agency Anadolu reported on Monday night. Victory in the Istanbul mayoral election was Erdogan's declared main goal in the local elections in Turkey.
Time has come for policy change in Turkey
CHP party leader Özgür Özel was optimistic after the elections. “You will receive good news soon. But don’t become careless,” the politician wrote on X and addressed his party’s election observers. They should continue their work until the last record of votes has been cast. In a press conference, Özel said that voters had shown that there needs to be a change in policy. The image of Türkiye must be changed after 22 years.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan loses again in the important metropolises in the local elections. © IMAGO/Tolga Uluturk
“We want to be a constitutional state again,” wrote Özel. He also criticized the fact that security forces were abused in Kurdish cities in order to boost the AKP's votes there. Around 47,000 people were bussed there to cast their votes for Erdogan's AKP. Özel said that many security forces were unhappy because of this.
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Istanbul and Ankara are very important for Erdogan
Victories in the metropolis of Istanbul and in the capital Ankara would have been very important for Erdogan. An election result that gives the impression that Erdogan can be defeated could strain Erdogan's coalition. “If he fails to win back metropolises like Istanbul and Ankara and loses votes in the local councils, this could lead to a break in Erdogan’s coalition of political parties and the state bureaucracy,” says Turkey expert Dr. Süleyman Özeren from the American University in Washington in conversation with Fr.de from Ippen.Media.
Poverty dominant issue in local elections in Turkey
The dominant theme in the run-up to the local elections in Turkey was increasing poverty in the country. Pensioners in particular could have tipped the scales in the local elections. The minimum pension is currently 10,000 Turkish lira (around 286 euros) and is therefore well below the minimum wage of 17,000 TL (around 486 euros). The amount is not enough given the price increases front and back. For comparison: the “hunger threshold” in the country is over 20,000 TL. This refers to the minimum expenditure on food for a family of four. Considering that there are over 15 million pensioners in the country, the weight of this group in local elections is particularly high.
According to the vote counts so far, in addition to the AKP, the allied nationalist MHP and the equally nationalist Iyi Parti are the big losers in the local elections in Turkey. In 2019, the MHP received 7.31 percent nationwide and Iyi Parti 7.45 percent. The MHP is currently only at 4.09 percent and the Iyi Parti at 3.45 percent.