Turkey K President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has conceded defeat in the country’s local elections on Sunday, saying the vote is a ‘turning point’ for his party after two decades in power.
According to the French news agency AFP, according to the preliminary results of the country’s 85 million population, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) won a significant victory, while Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) was defeated. have faced
“Tomorrow is a new spring day for our country,” Istanbul’s newly elected mayor and opposition leader Akram Imamoglu claimed that almost all ballot boxes had been opened and told a cheering crowd of supporters.
The final results are expected to be released by the Election Commission of the country on Monday itself.
According to the British news agency Reuters, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday morning that “Sunday’s Municipal elections His ruling coalition did not get the desired results.
Speaking to his supporters in the capital Ankara, Erdogan said that the elections are not an end for their unity, but a turning point. We will review the results in the party and hold ourselves accountable.
Erdogan, 70, launched a personal campaign to win re-election from Istanbul, where he was once mayor. However, due to rising inflation and economic crisis, public confidence in the ruling party has been damaged.
Crowds waved Turkish flags and lit torches in the square outside the opposition party’s Istanbul city headquarters to celebrate the results.
After casting his vote, Imamoglu clapped and chanted “everything will be fine,” a slogan he used for the first time in 2019, according to AFP.
Imamoglu, 52, is seen as the main challenger to Erdogan’s AKP party ahead of presidential elections in 2028.
In Ankara, CHP Mayor Mansour Yavas claimed victory in front of a large crowd of supporters, announcing that ‘the elections are over, we will continue to serve Ankara.’
“Those who have been ignored have sent a clear message to those who rule this country,” he added.
The Yavas got 58.6 percent of the votes, while their AKP opponent got 33.5 percent. 46.4 percent ballot boxes were opened.
Opposition supporters also celebrated victory in Turkey’s third-largest city of Izmir and the southern city of Antalya.
The results show that some of AKP’s strongholds are also in danger of being lost.
“The voters have chosen to change the face of Turkey,” CHP Chairman Özgur Ozil said after the results came out. They want to open the door to a new political environment in our country.’
Respect the decision
Erdogan admitted the election failure in a speech to his supporters at his party’s headquarters.
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“Unfortunately we didn’t get the results we wanted,” he said.
He further said that ‘We will definitely respect the decision of the nation. We will avoid being stubborn, working against the national will and questioning the power of the nation.’
Erdogan has been Turkey’s president since 2014 and won a new term in May last year.
He had declared Istanbul as a national ‘treasure’ while launching his campaign to win it back.
But while he dominated the campaign, his personal character did little to quell widespread concerns about the country’s economy.
“Everyone is worried about their daily needs,” said Guler Kaya, a 43-year-old resident of Istanbul, as she voted.
“The crisis is swallowing the middle class,” he said. We have to change all our habits. If Erdogan wins, the situation will get worse.’
Although opposition parties were fractured before the elections, analysts predicted a stormy political future for the AKP and its allies.
Burke Essen, an academic at the University of Sibiu, said the CHP had suffered “the biggest electoral defeat of Erdogan’s career”.
Essan said on his social media account that ‘despite the rough conditions, the government candidates have lost even in the strongholds of the conservatives. These are the best results for the CHP since the 1977 elections.’
Supporters of Turkey’s conservative party, the Republican People’s Party, gather outside the main municipality building in Istanbul on March 31, 2024, celebrating the mayor’s victory (AFP)
Unrest in the Southeast
“Whoever wins Istanbul, Turkey wins,” recalled Erdogan, a pollster from Conda Research and Consultancy.
These elections took place at a time when the inflation rate in the country is 67 percent and the lira currency has fallen from 19 to 32 dollars in a year.
One person was killed and 12 injured in clashes in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast region, a local official told AFP news agency.
The pro-Kurdish DEM party has said it has identified irregularities in ‘almost all Kurdish provinces’, particularly through suspicious cases of proxy voting.
Observers from France were denied access to polling stations in the region, according to the lawyers’ association MLSA.
About 61 million people were eligible to vote for mayors of Turkey’s 81 provinces, as well as members of provincial councils and other local officials.
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2024-10-02 07:26:39
