Rome, 1 April 2024 – Triumph of the opposition in Türkiye at administrative electionswith the republican party CHP becoming the leading political force in the country and confirming itself as Istanbul and Ankara, the two nerve centers of the country reconquered in 2019 after 25 years. The results of the vote constitute a tough one defeat for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan: the Turkish leader had promised to bring the two metropolises back under the control of his party and spent himself in a non-stop electoral campaign which, however, did not have the desired effects.
The election result is celebrated in Istanbul
In Istanbul the gap between the outgoing mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and the president’s candidate, Murat Kurum, immediately appeared unbridgeable. Unlike 5 years ago, the CHP also won in most districts of the metropolis on the Bosphorus, regaining the very central Beyoglu after 30 years. It went worse for Erdogan in Ankara, where the outgoing mayor Mansur Yavas he repeated his success in 2019 with a gap of 26 points over his challenger from the AKP party. The CHP has always won in the stronghold Izmir, the third city in the country, and the success is not a surprise, as is the confirmation of the CHP in other large cities such as Adana and Mersin.
The main centers of the Turkish president remain coast of the Black Sea and a large part of central Anatolia, where the CHP has nevertheless wrested some provinces from the AKP and the nationalist opposition party Iyi has imposed itself in Nevsehir.
The bad news for Erdogan doesn’t end here: the CHP becomes the first party with 37.13% of preferences, after 25 years it exceeds the 27% threshold and leaves behind the president’s AKP, which obtained 36.14% of the votes.
Erdogan: “Defeat is a turning point”
“85 million Turks won, defeat must be a turning point for our party”. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says this admits defeat in the local elections. Erdogan spoke in the capital Ankara from the headquarters of the AKP party, following the crushing defeat suffered at the hands of the opposition CHP party. “Elections are the key moment of democracy, the moment in which the people indicate the path they want to take and I thank all those who have worked hard to ensure that our citizens spend today calmly and regularly. In the past we have had problems in the south-east and clashes, pressure on citizens and threats. Problems that are now the past, because we have given a lesson of democracy and all of Turkey must be proud of this. Democracy is the real winner,” Erdogan said. The Turkish leader then underlined that his party will return to work hard to retake the lost cities. “We didn’t get the result we expected, now it’s time to analyze and act with courage. In the last 22 years there have been 18 elections and we have almost always won, this time it didn’t go that way, but in the future anything can “, the Turkish leader declared.
Imamoglu: “A new Türkiye”
“We won, Turkey will be a new country.” These are the words spoken by a triumphant Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of the opposition party CHP who in 2019 wrested Istanbul from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP after 25 years and who today has repeated the success of 5 years ago. Imamoglu spoke from the party headquarters, where thousands gathered to wave the Turkish flag and celebrate a victory that represents a real defeat for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. There are numerous neighborhoods where people have taken to the streets and on the streets of Istanbul there is no shortage of carousels of cars honking and waving the inevitable Turkish flags, regardless of who wins.
