TURKIYE A SCANTING BACK FOR ERDOGAN DURING THE MUNICIPALS

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan conceded on Sunday the historic victory of the opposition in the municipal elections, which according to him constitute a "turning point" for his camp, in power since 2002. The counting of nearly 99% of ballot boxes across national confirms that the Turkish opposition has inflicted its worst electoral debacle on the head of state's AKP (Islamo-conservative) party in two decades.

“We didn’t get the results we wanted.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan conceded "a turning point" for his camp on Sunday March 31, after the historic victory of the opposition in the municipal elections.

The leading opposition party, the secular Republican People's Party (CHP), beat the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in number of votes, totaling 37.7% of the votes cast. , compared to 35.5% for the AKP. Not only does the opposition retain the town halls of Istanbul and Ankara, but it has imposed itself in a large number of other cities and villages that it had not managed to conquer until then, including strongholds of the AKP.

For many observers, the very popular mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, now has a route to the 2028 presidential election. The CHP, a social democratic party, has won many other town halls, such as in Bursa, an important industrial city in the northwest of the country, which had been acquired by the AKP since 2004. Besides Izmir, the third city in the country and stronghold of the CHP in the West, and Antalya, in the South, the first opposition movement achieved a spectacular breakthrough in Anatolia. He is leading the race in provincial capitals long held by the AKP.

“The voters have chosen to change the face of Turkey,” said CHP leader Ozgür Ozel. “Those who were ignored sent a clear message to those who run this country,” added CHP Mayor of Ankara, Mansur Yavas.

The pro-Kurdish DEM party has secured a comfortable lead in several large cities in the Kurdish-majority South-East, including Diyarbakir, the informal capital of Turkey's Kurds.

Erdogan promises to “respect the decision of the nation”

From his party headquarters in Ankara, in front of a dejected and unusually silent crowd, the Turkish president promised to “respect the decision of the nation”. Resigned, he spoke of the "four years of work (...) not to be wasted" between now and 2028, a way of ruling out the possibility of an early election which would allow him to run again.

The country's very poor economic situation, inflation, the rate of which reached 80% at the end of 2022 and remained at 67% in February, and the resulting increase in the cost of living largely explain the verdict of the voters. These factors likely encouraged disaffected AKP voters to stay home.