There are many indications that the opposition party CHP will be successful in the local elections in Turkey. The mayors in Ankara and Istanbul have already declared their election victories. This is bad news for President Erdogan.
After the polling stations in Turkey have closed, the counting of votes will begin. However, the largest opposition party, the CHP, was satisfied with the initial partial results of the local elections. “The voters voted to change the face of Turkey,” said CHP leader Özgür Özel. “They want to open the door to a new political climate in our country,” he added.
In the capital Ankara, the incumbent CHP mayor declared himself the winner. “The elections are over, we will continue to serve Ankara,” said Mansur Yavas of the social democratic CHP.
After 46.4 percent of the votes were counted, with 58.6 percent he was well ahead of his main rival from the ruling AKP party, who got 33.5 percent.
In Istanbul, CHP supporters celebrate even before the official result is announced.
Imamoglu declares himself winner in Istanbul
According to CHP calculations, the party also defended the mayor’s office in Istanbul. Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu declared himself the winner of the election. After counting ballots from 96 percent of the ballot boxes, he said he was ahead by more than a million votes.
According to the state news agency Anadolu, after counting, he went from just under 40 percent of the votes to around 50 percent. His challenger, the candidate of the Islamic conservative AKP, Murat Kurum, received 41.3 percent of the vote.
Before Imamoglu’s surprising election victory in 2019, Istanbul had been in the hands of the AKP and its predecessor parties for 25 years. Today’s Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself started his political career in the metropolis on the Bosphorus in 1994 when he was elected mayor there. He had made the recovery of Istanbul his election goal and sent his former environment minister Kurum into the race there.
Voter turnout drops to around 76 percent
President Erdogan’s AKP is also losing votes across the country. After around a third of the votes were counted, the CHP was with around 39 percent nationwide, just ahead of the AKP, which has around 37 percent, as the state news agency Anadolu reported, citing unofficial preliminary figures.
In the 2019 local elections, the AKP received 44 percent of the vote. The first official results were expected later in the evening. Approximately 61 million people in 81 provinces were called to elect mayors, councilors and other local politicians. Voter turnout was about 76 percent, according to state news agency Anadolu, down from 87 percent in last year’s presidential and parliamentary elections.
Imamoglu could challenge Erdogan
The vote is also seen as a barometer of the popularity of Erdogan, who is trying to regain control of key urban areas that he lost to the opposition in elections five years ago.
The CHP’s victory in Ankara and Istanbul shattered Erdogan’s aura of invincibility. Istanbul is particularly important for Erdogan, where he was born and raised. The popular Imamoglu is considered a possible challenger to Erdogan in the upcoming presidential elections.
Pia Masurczak, ARD Istanbul, tagesschau, March 31, 2024 8:23 p.m