“A new political order” – Diario de Yucatán

ANKARA (AP) — Turkey’s main opposition party managed to retain its control over key cities and made huge gains elsewhere in local elections yesterday, according to preliminary results, in a major setback for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. who wanted to regain control of those urban areas.

With almost 60% of the votes counted, current Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), was leading in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city and economic center, according to state broadcaster TRT. Mansur Yavas, mayor of the capital Ankara, retained his position by a wide margin, the results show.

The CHP was leading in 36 of Turkey’s 81 provinces, according to results reported by TRT.

The vote was seen as a barometer of the popularity of Erdogan, 70, as he sought to regain control of key urban areas he lost to the opposition in elections five years ago.

The CHP’s victory in Ankara and Istanbul in 2019 shattered Erdogan’s aura of invincibility.

The main battleground for the president was Istanbul, a city of 16 million people where he was born and raised and where he began his political career as mayor in 1994.

The result was a boost for the opposition, which was left divided and demoralized after a defeat to Erdogan and his ruling Islamist-oriented Justice and Development Party (AKP) in last year’s presidential and parliamentary elections. .

“Voters decided to establish a new political order in Turkey,” CHP leader Ozgur Ozel told a crowd of jubilant supporters. “Today the voters decided to change the panorama that existed 22 years ago in Turkey and open the door to a new political climate in our country.”

Meanwhile, a large crowd gathered in front of Ankara’s city hall to celebrate Yavas’ victory. “Ankara is proud of you!” his followers chanted.

Sinan Ulgen, director of the Istanbul-based Edam research center, said “the surprising result” was because voters wanted to punish the ruling party for the “depth of the economic malaise.” Soaring inflation has left many Turkish households struggling to afford basic goods.

AKP supporters chose to stay away from the polls or voted for other parties, Ulgen said.

“Turnout was relatively low compared to past elections,” he said. “In the vote there were people who voted for a party other than the one they preferred, which did not happen in the national elections due to stronger ideological ties. This time economics prevailed over identity.”

Some 61 million people, including more than 1 million voters who voted for the first time, had the right to vote in all metropolitan municipalities, city and district mayors, as well as in neighborhood administrations.

Turnout was about 76%, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency, compared with 87% last year.

Some 594,000 security personnel were deployed throughout the country to ensure that the vote went smoothly. Despite this, one person was killed and 11 others were injured in the city of Diyarbakir, where a dispute over the election of a neighborhood administrator turned violent, Anadolu reported. At least six people also suffered injuries in clashes that broke out in the nearby province of Sanliurfa.

“Based on the data we have obtained, it appears that our citizens’ trust in us, their faith in us, has borne fruit,” Mayor Imamoglu said.

Imamoglu received approximately 50% of the vote in Istanbul, while AKP candidate Murat Kurum received 41%, according to TRT.