ISTANBUL — Turkey’s main opposition party won landslide victories in local elections on Sunday, handing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan his worst defeat in elections that revealed voter anger over a deep and debilitating economic crisis.
With 99.8 percent of the votes counted, unofficial results showed the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leading nationwide over President Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), 37.7 percent to 35.5 percent, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.
Turkey’s opposition claimed victory in elections held in Istanbul, Ankara and other major cities on March 31, marking the worst defeat for President Tayyip Erdogan. (Video: Reuters)
The election, for mayoral and local council seats, marked the CHP’s first nationwide victory in more than two decades since Erdogan became Turkey’s powerful leader and a stunning reversal for the party less than a year after its candidate was defeated by Erdogan in a presidential election that devastated Turkey’s opposition.
But late on Sunday, amid signs of defections from his party and growing opposition power in conservative areas that are the backbone of the president’s support, it was Erdogan who displayed humility.
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“We have lost momentum across the country,” Erdogan said in a speech in the capital, Ankara, late Sunday. “We will sincerely evaluate the election results and boldly engage in self-criticism.”
The election’s big prize was Istanbul, a city of 16 million people that is Turkey’s economic capital and where Mr. Erdogan launched his illustrious political career after serving as mayor. Unofficial results showed that incumbent CHP Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu beat a ruling party challenger by just over 1 million votes on Sunday.
The win cemented Imamoglu as perhaps Erdogan’s most viable challenger, coming less than five years after he rose to national prominence when he wrested the Istanbul mayor’s office from decades of AKP rule. After a campaign that focused on local issues like Istanbul’s redevelopment and earthquake preparedness, Imamoglu portrayed his victory in broader terms late Sunday, targeting Erdogan’s authoritarian rule.
“Sunday marks the end of the erosion of democracy in Turkey and the return of democracy,” he said. “People who were oppressed under dictatorship are now turning their eyes to Istanbul.”
Results showed CHP candidates winning 35 of Turkey’s 81 provinces and retaining or gaining control of the country’s five largest cities — a resounding victory that left opposition supporters wondering what might have happened if the party had fielded a more charismatic candidate in last year’s presidential election.
The collapse of the opposition coalition after Kemal Kilicdaroglu’s defeat did not hurt the CHP’s fortunes on Sunday. In Istanbul, results suggested that supporters of the main Kurdish opposition party, which had fielded its own candidate in the mayoral election, voted for Imamoglu instead.
Mr Erdogan’s party appears to have suffered defections, including to an Islamist party that criticised him for not cutting economic ties with Israel during the Gaza war and won more than 6% of the national vote.
But Erdogan’s management of the economy appears to be the biggest issue in the campaign, as households struggle with soaring inflation and a plummeting currency. Inflation remains at about 70 percent despite Erdogan’s decision last year to appoint a highly-regarded economic team and authorize the central bank to raise interest rates to their highest in decades.
“It’s all about the economy,” said Altan Barusin, 56, a CHP supporter who waited to vote early Sunday in Istanbul’s Gunggoren district. He said he had voted for Erdogan’s party before, when it was “doing well” a few years after it came to power.
“I think their economic policies will affect the outcome of the election,” he said.
Another voter, Fatma Ensari, 50, was cool towards Imamoglu, saying she “doesn’t think he has done much for Istanbul” but would vote for him anyway as a “reaction to the government”.
“I will vote taking into account the overall situation in Turkey: the economy, education, we are not happy with any of it,” she said.
Fahim reported from Beirut.
