According to the preliminary results, in Istanbul, the current mayor Ekrem Imamoglu from the opposition center-left Republican People’s Party (CHP) managed to retain his position with 51% of voter support, which is ten percentage points more than his nearest rival, and the party won a total of 15 more mayoral positions.
Also in Ankara, the current mayor Mansurs Javas from the CHP retained his position with a 25 percentage point advantage, according to the preliminary results published by the Turkish state news agency “Anadolu”.
In total, the CHP won 36 out of 81 Turkish provinces, according to “Anadolu” data. In general, the opposition party in the country received 37% of the votes, while the candidates of the authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) were supported by 36% of voters.
Erdogan acknowledged the AKP’s poor election results, saying in a speech on the balcony of the presidential palace that his party had “lost ground” across Turkey, but promised that the AKP would analyze the message sent by voters with bold self-criticism.
The loss in the municipal elections is the AKP’s worst election result since coming to power more than 20 years ago. Data published by “Anadolu” show that the AKP and its allies lost 19 mayoral positions.
61 million Turkish citizens have the right to vote.
Tags: Erdogans party suffers defeat Turkish municipal elections Diena
