The Turks have given the party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a speech in the local elections on Sunday. After counting almost all votes, the AKP was in the capital Ankara facing a defeat, while in the metropolis of Istanbul, the victory of the governing party was on the cutting edge. Both the AKP candidate and the opposition claimed victory there late in the evening.
In the nationwide local elections, all eyes were on the megacities Istanbul and Ankara, which have been governed by the AKP for years. By late evening, AKP candidate Binali Yildirim was in Istanbul with 48.7 percent practically equal to the CHP candidate Ekrem Imamoglu, but claimed the victory for himself. „We won,“ the former prime minister said to cheering supporters.
Unpublished results on polling sites are a source of criticism
After counting 98 percent of the ballot papers, they only separated just under 5,000 votes at that time. Simultaneously with Yildirim, Imamoglu held a press conference in Istanbul, accusing the AKP candidate of „manipulation“ because not all votes were counted. Late in the night he claimed the victory in Istanbul in a speech. The results showed that his party was unassailable ahead.
„According to our data, Ekrem won Imamoglu,“ said CHP chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu at a press conference. The criticism was that the official news agency Anadolu since midnight, the results on their election website no longer updated. Already at polls in recent years, there had repeatedly been allegations of manipulation.
Erdogan avoided confessing defeat of his party in Ankara
While the race in the Bosphorus metropolis was not decided at night, the AKP was in the capital before the loss of the town hall. After counting 99 percent of ballots, the CHP candidate Mansur Yavas was clearly in the lead with 50.9 percent. Incumbent Mehmet Özhaseki of the AKP reached only 47 percent. Hundreds of supporters celebrated at the CHP Central in Ankara during the night.
Speaking from the balcony of the AKP headquarters, Erdogan avoided conceding the defeat of his party in Ankara or making a clear statement on the outcome of the election in Istanbul. Instead, the AKP chairman emphasized that his party, in alliance with the ultra-right MHP, had conquered 56 percent of city halls nationwide. She also won the majority of districts in Istanbul, said Erdogan.
Local election question of „national survival“
By contrast, in the third largest Turkish city of Izmir, the CHP faced a clear victory. As in previous elections, virtually all coastal provinces in the West went to the left-wing nationalist party, while Central Anatolia fell to the majority in the AKP. For its part, the pro-Kurdish HDP was facing victory in majority Kurdish provinces such as Diyarbakir, Mardin and Hakkari in the southeast, and Van and Kars in the east.
The election campaign had been described by observers as one of the dirtiest in recent years. Erdogan had declared the election on the question of „national survival“ in the face of threats from internal and external enemies. Although Erdogan himself was not standing for election, he held more than a hundred rallies within two months, making the ballot a vote on his own policies.
However, the economic situation was not favorable for the AKP: for the first time in ten years, Turkey has slipped into recession, inflation is at 20 percent and, just before the election, strong fluctuations in the currency created additional nervousness in Ankara. „The economy is terrible, it is done,“ said the voter Hüsnü Acar in voting in Istanbul. It is not Turkey but the AKP that has „a survival problem“.
