Turkey gets a new challenger
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan suffered a shock defeat at the ballot box as the main opposition party retained control of key cities and made huge gains elsewhere in Sunday’s local elections, which became the biggest setback in Erdogan’s two decades of rule. A look at the key takeaways from the results
Opposition rising
Candidates from the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) buttressed their control of Istanbul and Capital Ankara with major gains. In 2019, CHP candidate Ekrem Imamoglu claimed the mayor’s seat in Istanbul, but his image as Erdogan’s rival now gets strengthened. In the run-up to the vote, Erdogan pressed his message that Imamoglu – whose name he rarely mentioned – was a “part-time mayor” consumed by presidential ambitions.
Imamoglu now has cemented a leader's role within Turkey's fractious opposition. He has the stature, the popularity, and above all, ambition.
“There is no loser in this election. There is no ‘other’ where we are. It’s time in Istanbul to use the people’s money for the people. There is no partisanship.
Erdogan concedes defeat
Erdogan conceded defeat on Sunday in as the results of the country's local elections became apparent. He said the vote was a "turning point" for his party after two decades in power. “Unfortunately, nine months after our victory in the May 28 elections, we could not get the result we wanted in the local election test… We will correct our mistakes and redress our shortcomings.”
Outflanked to the right
Erdogan's AKP faced stiff competition from the Islam-based Yeniden Refah (New Welfare) Party, which received 6.2% of the vote to claim 3rd place nationwide. New Welfare was founded in 2018 by the son of legendary Islamist leader Necmettin Erbakan, a mentor who inspired Erdogan with his "Nationalist View" ideology merging Turkish nationalist and Islamic identities.
New Welfare toppled AKP from its strongholds of Sanliurfa in the southeast and Yozgat in central Anatolia and split the right-wing vote in Istanbul's Uskudar, helping CHP over the line. Its leader Fatih Erbakan has attacked Erdogan for maintaining Turkish trade with Israel despite the war in Gaza.
OPPOSITION PUSHES INLAND
In the past, pro-govt media was able to mock the CHP as the “party of beaches and villas”, as its support was strongest on Turkey's prosperous western shores on the Aegean and the Mediterranean. But its push Sunday inland into Anatolia could help shake off that elitist reputation, as it took power in places like northwestern industrial city Bursa and Adiyaman, the southeastern city struck by a devastating earthquake in February 2023.