Turkish
President
Recep
Tayyip
Erdogan.
Anadolu
Agency
|
Anadolu
Agency
|
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Turks
punished
President
Tayyip
Erdogan
and
his
party
on
Sunday
in
nationwide
local
elections
that
reasserted
the
opposition
as
a
political
force
and
reinforced
Istanbul
Mayor
Ekrem
Imamoglu
as
the
president’s
chief
future
rival.
With
more
than
half
of
votes
counted,
Imamoglu
led
by
nearly
10
percentage
points
in
the
mayoral
race
in
Istanbul,
Turkey’s
largest
city,
while
his
Republican
People’s
Party
(CHP)
retained
Ankara
and
gained
nine
other
mayoral
seats
in
big
cities
nationwide.
Analysts
said
Erdogan
and
his
AK
Party
(AKP)
–
which
have
ruled
Turkey
for
more
than
two
decades
–
fared
worse
than
polls
predicted
due
to
soaring
inflation,
dissatisfied
Islamist
voters
and,
in
Istanbul,
Imamoglu’s
appeal
beyond
the
CHP’s
secular
base.
“The
favour
and
trust
our
citizens
have
in
us
have
indeed
been
demonstrated,”
said
Imamoglu,
53,
a
former
businessman
who
entered
politics
in
2008
and
is
now
seen
by
analsyts
as
a
potential
presidential
challenger.
In
Ankara,
the
capital,
thousands
of
supporters
gathered
into
the
night
waving
CHP
flags
for
a
speech
by
CHP
Mayor
Mansur
Yavas,
who
trounced
his
AKP
challenger
in
another
blow
for
Erdogan.
Erdogan
had
campaigned
hard
ahead
of
the
municipal
elections,
which
analysts
described
as
a
gauge
of
both
his
support
and
the
opposition’s
durability.
The
president’s
disappointing
showing
could
signal
a
change
in
the
major
emerging
economy’s
divided
political
landscape.
Hours
after
voting
ended,
the
president
was
headed
to
Ankara
from
Istanbul
to
address
the
nation.
According
to
79.77%
of
ballot
boxes
opened
in
Istanbul,
Europe’s
largest
city
with
more
than
16
million
people,
Imamoglu
had
50.53%
support
compared
with
40.73%
for
AKP
challenger
Murat
Kurum,
a
former
minister
in
Erdogan’s
national
government.
Polls
had
predicted
a
tight
contest
in
Istanbul
and
possible
CHP
losses
across
the
country.
Yet
partial
official
results
reported
by
state-run
Anadolu
Agency
showed
AKP
and
its
main
ally
giving
up
mayoralties
in
10
big
cities
including
Bursa
and
Balikesir
in
the
industrialised
northwest.
The
CHP
is
leading
nationwide
by
almost
1%
of
the
votes,
a
first
in
35
years,
the
results
showed.
Mert
Arslanalp,
assistant
professor
of
political
science
at
Istanbul’s
Bogazici
University,
said
it
was
Erdogan’s
“severest
election
defeat”
since
coming
to
national
power
in
2002.
“Imamoglu
demonstrated
he
could
reach
across
the
deep
socio-political
divisions
that
define
Turkey’s
opposition
electorate
even
without
their
institutional
support,”
he
said.
“This
makes
him
the
most
politically
competitive
rival
to
Erdogan’s
regime
at
the
national
level.”
Imamoglu’s
rise
In
2019,
Imamoglu
had
dealt
Erdogan
a
sharp
electoral
blow
when
he
first
won
Istanbul,
ending
25
years
of
rule
in
the
city
by
AKP
and
its
Islamist
predecessors,
including
Erdogan’s
own
run
as
its
mayor
in
the
1990s.
CHP
also
won
Ankara
that
year.
The
president
struck
back
in
2023
by
securing
re-election
and
a
parliamentary
majority
with
his
nationalist
allies,
despite
a
years-long
cost-of-living
crisis.
Analysts
said
the
economic
strains,
including
nearly
70%
inflation
and
a
slowdown
in
growth
brought
on
by
an
aggressive
monetary-tightening
regime,
moved
voters
to
punish
AKP
this
time.
“The
economy
was
the
decisive
factor,”
said
Hakan
Akbas,
a
senior
adviser
at
the
Albright
Stonebridge
Group.
“Turkish
people
demanded
change
and
Imamoglu
is
now
the
default
nemesis
to
President
Erdogan.”
Flag-waving
supporters
in
front
of
the
Istanbul
Municipality
building
said
they
wanted
to
see
Imamoglu
challenge
Erdogan
for
the
presidency
in
the
future.
“We
are
very
happy.
I
love
him
so
much.
We
would
like
to
see
him
as
president,”
said
Esra,
a
housewife.
Rising
popular
support
for
the
Islamist
New
Welfare
Party,
which
took
an
even
more
hardline
stance
than
Erdogan
against
Israel
over
the
Gaza
conflict,
also
sapped
AKP
support.
The
party
took
Sanliurfa
from
an
AKP
incumbant
in
the
southeast.
Imamoglu
was
reelected
despite
the
collapse
of
the
opposition
alliance
that
failed
to
topple
Erdogan
last
year.
The
main
pro-Kurdish
party,
which
backed
Imamoglu
in
2019,
fielded
its
own
candidate
under
the
DEM
banner
in
Istanbul
this
time.
But
many
Kurds
put
aside
party
loyalty
and
voted
for
him
again,
the
results
suggest.
In
the
mainly
Kurdish
southeast,
DEM
reaffirmed
its
strength,
winning
10
provinces.
Following
previous
elections,
the
state
has
replaced
pro-Kurdish
mayors
with
state-appointed
“trustees”
following
previous
elections
over
alleged
militant
ties.
Violence
erupted
earlier
in
the
day,
including
one
incident
in
the
southeast
in
clashes
by
groups
armed
with
guns,
sticks
and
stones,
killing
one
and
wounding
11.
In
another,
one
neighbourhood
official,
or
“muhtar”,
candidate
was
killed
and
four
people
were
wounded
in
a
fight,
Anadolu
reported.
Several
others
were
hurt
in
other
incidents
while
one
person
was
shot
dead
and
two
were
wounded
overnight
ahead
of
the
vote
in
Bursa,
Demiroren
reported.
