As of: April 2, 2024, 5:07 a.m
By: Erkan Pehlivan, Daniel Dillmann, Bedrettin Bölükbasi
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The last votes are being counted - there are signs of significant losses for Erdogan's AKP. The news ticker for the Turkish elections.
Current status
in
Turkey
: The current projections for the local elections in Turkey
Results
from
Turkey
: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan faces setback in local elections in Turkey
First projections
from
Istanbul
: The ruling AKP party is threatened with defeat in the mayoral election
Update from April 1st, 5:58 p.m.:
The right-wing radical MHP led by Devlet Bahceli and at the same time a supporter of the government is among the losers of the election. In the 2019 local elections, the party received 7.31 percent of the nationwide votes and now only received 4.99 percent. Bahceli also announced consequences. “President Erdogan is the head of state and we will support him until the end,” Bahceli wrote in a statement. He also sees the defeat as a message from the voters. “The MHP has taken this democratic message and rolled up its sleeves to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the election results,” writes Bahceli. However, the MHP leader rules out early elections.
Erdogan's partner MHP falls from 7.31 percent to 4.99 percent
Update from April 1st, 3:55 p.m
.: In response to the electoral defeat, President Erdogan's government wants to address the economic problems. “Tackling inflation, both economically and socially, is our top priority. We will achieve this through the decisive implementation of the program announced last year,” writes Deputy President Cevdet Yilmaz on X. The first results should be available in the second half of the year. The dominant theme of the local elections was the country's economic problems. Inflation there is currently around 67 percent.
Update from April 1st, 2:40 p.m
.: 100 percent of the votes have now been counted. The unofficial final result is that the CHP is the strongest force with 37.76 percent. The AKP got 35.48 percent. The Yenid Refah Partisi has 6.19 percent, the DEM Parti has 5.7 percent, the MHP has 4.99 percent and the Iyi Parti has 3.77 percent. President Erdogan announced his defeat after midnight. The defeat for Erdogan's AKP was particularly great in Istanbul. There, incumbent Ekrem Imamoglu (CHP) received 51.14 percent of the vote. The AKP candidate Murat Kurum, however, only received 39.59 percent.
Erdogan wants to “respect the nation’s decision”
Update from April 1st, 12:49 p.m
.: “Unfortunately, we did not achieve the results we wanted,” Erdogan said loudly at the headquarters of his AKP in front of an unusually quiet crowd. “We will of course respect the nation’s decision,” he continued.
Shortly before, the incumbent mayor of the metropolis of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu (CHP), had announced his re-election. The election marks “the end of democratic erosion in Turkey and the resurgence of democracy,” Imamoglu told reporters, calling his victory “of great significance.”
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Outcome of the Turkish elections – preliminary results
Update from April 1st, 12:50 p.m.:
The chairman of the High Electoral Council, Ahmet Yener, commented on the local elections. Accordingly, voter turnout was 78.11 percent. So far, 99.99 percent of the votes have been counted. “According to the preliminary results, in the mayoral elections in Turkey, the CHP won 35 mayoral positions, the AK Party 24, the DEM Party 10, the MHP 8, the Yenid Refah Partisi 2, the BBP 1 and the İYİ Party 1.
In the 30 major cities, the CHP won 14 mayoral offices, the AKP 12, the DEM Party 3 and the Yenid Refah Partisi 1,” said Yener. Provisional final results are also available in 44 provinces. “Accordingly, the CHP won 18, the AK Party 9, the MHP 8, the DEM Party 6, the BBP 1, the İYİ Party 1, the Yeniden Refah Partisi 1 provincial mayoral election.”
Update from April 1, 11:10 a.m.:
After 99.82 percent of the votes were counted, the opposition party CHP remains in first place nationwide with 37.74 percent. The ruling AKP party only has 35.49 percent. In addition to President Erdogan, the AKP's top candidate for Istanbul, Murat Kurum, also spoke in front of the cameras at midnight. We will evaluate the voters' message and learn lessons from it and move Turkey forward.
Historic victory for the opposition in the Turkish election: local elections show a “turning point” for Erdogan
Update from April 1st, 7:21 a.m
.: Erdogan has conceded the opposition's historic victory in the local elections. Yesterday he spoke of a “turning point” for his camp, which has been in power since 2002. With nearly 99 percent of the country's ballot boxes counted, Erdogan's Islamic conservative AKP suffered its worst electoral debacle in two decades.
The largest opposition party, the social democratic CHP, declared itself the winner in Istanbul and Ankara, the country's largest cities. Final results are expected to be announced later on Monday.
Local elections in Turkey: Erdogan de facto admits defeat after elections
Update, 11:50 p.m.:
It took President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a long time to appear in front of the cameras. At 12:30 a.m. (local time) he commented on his AKP's poor election results in the local elections in Turkey. In the capital Ankara, Erdogan and his wife Emine appeared before his supporters and surprisingly admitted their de facto defeat.
Admission of defeat: There are no good local elections in the country on the Bosphorus behind Turkish President Erdogan. © Marton Monus/dpa/archive image
“We will stand tall. March 31 is not a defeat for us,” said the president after the bitter results of the Turkish elections. “The people give their message at the ballot box,” said Erdogan. The winner of the local elections is the people and Turkey. “I trust you and, God willing, I will continue to win together with you,” said the head of state. Erdogan promised to help the new mayors in their work. In the next four and a half years his party will work on its mistakes.
Results of the elections in Turkey show a trend: Ekrem Imamoglu will probably remain in Istanbul
Update, 10:45 p.m.:
Ekrem Imamoglu will apparently remain in office in Istanbul. His supporters are already gathering in the Sarachane district, where the mayor is scheduled to give his victory speech. People wave Turkish flags and celebrate the victory over President Erdogan and his AKP. People are also celebrating in other Kurdish cities. In Van, car convoys of the pro-Kurdish Dem Parti formed. In Diyarbakir, Dem Parti supporters also gathered and chanted “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi” (Woman, Life, Freedom). Police are said to have arrested pro-Kurdish party members in Van and Sirnak.
Update, 10:30 p.m.:
The CHP has declared itself the winner of the mayoral election in Ankara. “The elections are over, we will continue to serve Ankara,” said acting mayor Mansur Yavas after the first results were available. This is reported by the
dpa
news agency . With 58.6 percent of the vote, Yavas is well ahead of his main rival from the ruling AKP party, who got 33.5 percent.
The current nationwide results of the local elections in Turkey at a glance
Political party |
Result in percent |
|---|---|
CHP |
37.13 |
AKP |
36.14 |
DEM Parti (formerly HDP) |
5.84 |
Yenid Refah Partisi |
5.75 |
As of: 10:30 p.m |
The counting of the Turkish election is ongoing: 67 percent have already been counted
Update, 10:15 p.m.:
67 percent of the votes in the local elections in Turkey have been counted. The CHP (37.21 percent) is still ahead of the AKP (36.37 percent). The opposition party is the strongest force in the metropolises of Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara and Bursa.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has not yet commented on the disappointing results of his AKP. The state news channel
TRT Haber
only shared the news that Erdogan was engaged in “telephone diplomacy”. The president spoke on the phone with his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Uzbek President Shawkat Mirziyoyev and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov.
Update, 9:17 p.m.:
Current figures for the local elections in Turkey show the AKP with a slight upward trend. Erdogan's party is now at 36.71 percent nationwide, the CHP at 37.66. This is reported by the Turkish TV station
Haber-TV,
among others
. 55.47 percent of the votes have now been counted.
CHP is ahead nationwide in local elections in Turkey - AKP is behind in the Turkish election
Update, 8:32 p.m.:
After 34 percent of the votes were counted, the CHP is also ahead of the AKP nationwide in the local elections. In Bursa, the opposition party continues to expand its lead. There are signs of a change of government there for the first time in 20 years. “It is admirable that the results from the districts that did not vote for us in 2019 are very good,” CHP candidate Mustafa Bozbey told Turkish media in Bursa.
Update, 8:07 p.m.:
Erdogan's party is falling further behind in the local elections in Turkey. New projections also show the CHP in the lead in Bursa. The opposition party there has 38.9 percent. The AKP, which has previously ruled the metropolis with more than three million inhabitants, is at 37.4 percent.
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on local elections in Turkey
Update, 7:28 p.m.:
After breaking the fast in the evening, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu commented on the local elections in Turkey. “The results show the trust in us,” said the CHP politician. 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.
The CHP is currently further ahead. However, the victory of the opposition party is not yet certain in many places. The CHP was also in the lead at the start of vote counting in the 2023 Turkish election. Ultimately, Erdogan's AKP secured victory.
CHP leads in Izmir and Ankara in local elections in Turkey
Update, 7:10 p.m.:
In Ankara and Izmir, the incumbent mayors of the CHP are also ahead of the AKP candidates. In Istanbul, incumbent Imamoglu's lead is growing. Erdogan had hoped for an AKP victory in the local elections, especially in the country's important economic metropolis.
Update, 6:50 p.m.:
Erdogan's AKP is threatened with a setback in the local elections in Turkey. In Istanbul, Mayor Imamoglu is still ahead of challenger Murat Kurum (AKP). 3.67 percent of the votes have been counted there. The ruling party's nationwide lead is also shrinking. According to
Haber-TV,
the AKP
currently has 38.34 percent. The opposition CHP is at 38.2 percent.
Projections show AKP ahead in local elections in Turkey
Update, 6:37 p.m
.: The first projections for the local elections in Turkey show the AKP with a slight lead nationwide. Erdogan's ruling party currently has 38.65 percent. The largest opposition party, the CHP, currently has 35.26 percent.
According to the state news agency Anadolu,
victories for the DEM Party are emerging in the Kurdish metropolises in the southeast of the country
. In Diyarbakir, the pro-Kurdish party and successor to the HDP got 61.82 percent, the AKP only 19.37 percent. Currently 11.32 percent of the votes have been counted.
First numbers from Istanbul for local elections in Turkey
Update, 6:20 p.m.:
The first projections from Istanbul show Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu (CHP) having a lead in the local elections in Turkey. Imamoglu currently has 49.4 percent of the vote. Challenger Murat Kurum (AKP) has 42.7 percent. This is reported by the TV station
Halk TV
. So far, two percent of the votes in the metropolis have been counted.
In Ankara, incumbent Mansur Yavas (CHP), citing the
ANKA
news agency , is ahead of challenger Turgut Altinok (AKP) with 32.1 percent after counting eight percent of the votes with 63.8 percent.
Istanbul mayoral election in focus in local elections in Turkey
Update, 5:58 p.m.:
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu announced on X that there were no incidents in the local elections in the Turkish metropolis. “I call on all citizens to follow the process carefully.” All votes will now be protected. Challenger Murat Kurum from the AKP made similar comments and also called on citizens to protect the ballot papers. “Now is the time to protect the voices,” reports Kurum via X.
From other parts of Turkey, allegations of vote manipulation in the local elections have been made against Erdogan and his AKP.
Polling stations in local elections in Turkey: first projections coming soon
Update, 4:25 p.m.:
Turkey's local elections have ended. All polling stations are closed. Now the whole country is waiting for the first projections of the big test of sentiment for Erdogan and his AKP.
Update, 4:02 p.m.:
There are first allegations of election manipulation in the eastern provinces of Sirnak, Kars, Igdir, Agri, Siirt, Hakkari and Mardin. A number of people are to be taken to the polling stations by bus. The spokeswoman for the pro-Kurdish DEM Parti (formerly HDP) told the Mezopotamya news agency that her party had registered “transported voters” in 31 cities and towns.
Riots in local elections in Turkey - at least one dead
Update, 3:05 p.m.:
Riots broke out in Diyarbakir during the local elections in Turkey. One person is said to have been killed and at least eleven other people were injured. This is reported by the state news agency
Anadolu
. In the Kurdish metropolis, among other things, community leaders are elected. During the dispute, two groups are said to have attacked each other with firearms, stones and sticks. Videos purporting to show attacks on polling stations are being distributed on Twitter (X).
Update from March 31, 2024, 2:24 p.m.:
Local elections in Turkey have been running since 6 a.m. (CET). Voting is possible until 4 p.m. German time. 61.44 million people are called upon to go to one of the 206,000 polling stations across the country and cast their vote.
Erdogan hopes for AKP victory in local elections in Turkey
First report from March 30, 2024:
Istanbul - In the local elections in Turkey on Sunday (March 31), President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is pursuing a clear goal: The head of state and his ruling party AKP want to recapture the Bosphorus metropolis of Istanbul, which has been ruled by the opposition for five years. But the Kurdish minority could thwart Erdogan's plans with a tactical vote. According to experts, the Kurds could tip the scales. Because many supporters of the pro-Kurdish DEM party are likely to vote for Erdogan's rival in Istanbul, the incumbent mayor Ekrem Imamoglu from the largest opposition party CHP. Polls suggest a close race.
Local elections in Turkey: Pro-Kurdish party is likely to decide the race in Istanbul
However, the Kurds face a dilemma in this year's local elections. The DEM is sending its own candidate Meral Danis Bestas into the race in Istanbul. But she is far behind in surveys. Many Kurdish voters are therefore still torn and undecided, says Yüksel Genc from the Samer opinion research institute. 40 percent of DEM supporters said they would vote for Imamoglu. “They are considering voting for their party candidate, but they don’t want the AKP to win.” Erdogan's government has been cracking down on Kurdish parties since the peace process to end the decades-long uprising by the banned PKK failed in 2015.
Roj Girasun, director of the think tank Rawest Research, argues that the DEM and the CHP have reached an agreement in some parts of Istanbul, making it easier for DEM voters to support Imamoglu. About half of them are inclined to vote for Imamoglu. Erdogan, who was mayor of Istanbul between 1994 and 1998, described this as a “dirty deal” designed to stoke tensions between the parties.
However, the Istanbul DEM top candidate Bestas rejected the idea of tactical voting. “We call on people to vote for us,” she said in a recent interview. There are currently no signs of a return to the peace process, but democratization requires a solution to the Kurdish question. “A Turkey in which a quarter of the population is excluded and discriminated against and whose demands are not met cannot be democratic,” said Bestas. The Kurds make up around 15 to 20 percent of Turkey's 85 million inhabitants.
Local elections in Turkey: Former Construction Minister Kurum as Erdogan's candidate in Istanbul
For the planned recapture of Istanbul, Erdogan is sending Murat Kurum into the race as mayoral candidate, who will serve as Minister for the Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change in 2023. After the devastating earthquake in February last year, the 47-year-old civil engineer made a name for himself through his work in creating emergency shelters.
Municipal elections in Turkey elect city councils, provincial councils and mayors. The elections are also a test of sentiment for Erdogan, who has been in office since 2014. He won the runoff elections for the presidency in Turkey in May 2023. However, large parts of the population and the opposition were disappointed at the time because they had hoped for a change of power. Disillusionment and attrition then spread across the predominantly Muslim country, also in view of the ongoing economic crisis.
In the 2019 local elections, the AKP had to give up the town halls in major cities such as Ankara and Antalya in addition to Istanbul. However, the Bosphorus metropolis has a special meaning for Erdogan. He started his political career there as mayor. Around 16 million people live in Istanbul - around 20 percent of Turkey's total population. The city also generates a large part of Turkey's gross domestic product.
Turkey is suffering from an economic crisis, which is currently accompanied by inflation of more than 67 percent. The value of the local currency, the lira, has been on the decline for years. A more restrictive financial policy is expected for the period after the local elections, which is likely to affect many Turks economically.
Opposition in Turkey is weakening: Erdogan senses an opportunity
Erdogan now has an opportunity to recapture the metropolis, which had been ruled by his AKP for 25 years until the recent local elections. The opposition is shattered and has not recovered from losing the presidential and parliamentary elections last year. In 2019, Imamoglu was supported by the Kurdish HDP and the IYI party to overthrow the AKP in Istanbul. In these elections, however, the three main opposition parties are not running with a common platform, but with their own candidates.
According to the latest polls, a neck-and-neck race is emerging between Imamoglu and his challenger Kurum. For Imamoglu, the election is also about higher goals. If he wins, he can hope to run for president in 2028. However, Imamoglu is currently in trouble with the judicial authorities. A court sentenced him to prison in 2022 for insulting members of the State Election Commission. The case will now be heard in the next instance. However, Imamoglu faces a ban on political activity if the verdict becomes final.
(bb with material from agencies)