FLASH
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Turkey's main opposition party scored big wins in key cities in local elections, with international media hailing it as a shock triple defeat for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as candidates backed by the Turkish president lost electoral battles in all three major municipalities. , Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, which remained in the hands of opposition mayors.
Incumbent Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu of the Republican People's Party (CHP) has scored a landslide victory in Turkey's largest city and financial center. Mansur Yavas, the mayor of Ankara, held on to his position with a stunning margin of nearly 30 points over his opponent, while the CHP candidate in Izmir leads by 11 points, The Guardian reports.
Turkey's main opposition party dealt a surprise blow to the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan with a sweeping victory in Turkey's local elections on Sunday, retaining control of major cities including the capital Ankara and Istanbul, where Ekrem Imamoğlu secured a mandate. second as mayor.
"My dear Istanbulites, you opened the door to a new future today," Imamoğlu told supporters of his opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) as he announced victory.
"From tomorrow, Turkey will be a different Turkey. You opened the door to the growth of democracy, equality and freedom… you ignited hope at the ballot box,” he added.
The results appear to be a symbol of discontent with Erdogan, who engaged in this election with his supporters shortly after winning the presidency in a general election last year.
Erdogan spearheaded his party's campaign to retake Istanbul, holding rallies in the city a week before the vote and attending prayers at Istanbul's highly symbolic Hagia Sophia mosque the night before the vote.
"These results show that voters decided to create a new policy in Turkey," CHP leader Özgür Özel said, addressing the public with tears in his eyes.
Imamoğlu, the star of the Turkish opposition, defeated his rival Murat Kurum, a former bureaucrat and environment minister from Erdogan's Justice and Development party (AKP), by a wide margin in Turkey's largest city. With the majority of votes counted, the Istanbul mayor beat Kurumi by about 10%.
Across Istanbul, drivers honked their car horns in celebration as videos showed jubilant people tearing down a poster with Kurum's face on it.
"These results will put Imamoglu and the CHP at the center of Turkish politics," says Yusuf Can, an analyst with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington.
Erdoğan had a repeat election after Imamoğlu's victory in 2019, but that led to an even stronger second confirmation for the opposition mayor. The result turned him from a minor municipal official into a leading challenger to Erdogan's rule. His second victory is expected to put Imamoğlu on the path to a presidential run.
The mayor's campaign for a second term proved challenging. Despite Erdogan's name not appearing on the ballot, voters across the country took the opportunity to voice their displeasure with his policies, with many citing Turkey's struggling economy as their motivation for voting for the opposition or a collection in growth of smaller parties further to the right of the AKP.
"It's a resounding message," says Selim Sazak, head of Sanda Global, an Ankara-based consulting company that advised several campaigns during the local election cycle. "Voters are telling the government that the economy is really hurting them."
Their message, he added, was that Imamoğlu or Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş could have won a similar sweeping victory for the opposition if the CHP had selected them as presidential candidates last year.
The AKP chose former environment minister Murat Kurum, born and raised in Ankara, to challenge the charismatic mayor of Istanbul, a seat Erdoğan held from 1994 to 1998.
Erdogan's efforts to place himself at the forefront of the battle to retake Istanbul angered many of its residents. Turkey has been plagued by an economic crisis linked to his policies, which has hit the population of big cities the hardest.
After re-election, Erdogan appointed a new finance minister and central bank governor, who introduced reforms and austerity measures that observers considered essential but left much of the public worse off as inflation continues to rise.
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