ISTANBUL: On Sunday, Turkey announced the results of municipal elections. All eyes were on Istanbul, the “jewel” of the country that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been trying to wrest from the opposition.
With almost 40% of the votes cast in the country’s largest city, incumbent mayor of Istanbul and candidate for the main secular opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Ekrem Imamoglu, declared on Sunday that he was “very happy” with the first results of the mayoral elections.
Separately, preliminary results showed that incumbent Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas, who is also seeking reelection from the CHP, had defeated his opponent from the ruling AK Party by about 20 percentage points. Yavas declared victory.
Numerous voters were plagued by anxiety as the election was held in the midst of severe inflation and devaluation.
In Ankara, the opposition gains ground and declares victory
At a station in Istanbul, 43-year-old Guler Kaya stated, “Everyone is worried about the day to day.” “We have to change all our habits; the middle class is being swallowed up by the crisis,” she remarked.
“The state of affairs in the kitchen or on their plate alters the voting trend when Turkish people cast their ballots,” political professor Ali Faik Demir of Galatasaray University told AFP.
According to him, “when we cannot afford a living, when we cannot eat,” votes are changed.
Erdogan controlled the campaign even though he was not a candidate in the local election.
His ascent to prominence in Turkiye started in 1994 when he was chosen as mayor of Istanbul, the fabled metropolis that united Europe and Asia.
Up until five years ago, when Imamoglu took control of the country’s economic powerhouse, his associates controlled the city.
The AKP, which Erdogan leads, would probably face significant opposition from Imamoglu if he wins reelection in 2028.
However, political scientist Bayram Balci of Sciences Po university in France cautioned that if Erdogan regains control of Istanbul and Ankara, he will be motivated to “amend” the constitution in order to run for reelection a fourth time.
Erdogan began the campaign to retake the 16 million-person city as soon as he secured reelection as president in May of last year. He has held the position since 2014.
At a recent rally in the city, the 70-year-old leader declared, “Istanbul is the jewel, the treasure, and the apple of our country’s eye.” Erdogan painted Imamoglu as a “part-time mayor” by designating former environment minister Murat Kurum as his mayoral candidate for Istanbul.
After casting his ballot in Istanbul at noon on Sunday, Erdogan declared, “This election will mark the beginning of a new era for our country.”
Erdogan famously said, “Whoever wins Istanbul, wins Turkiye,” according to Konda Research and Consultancy pollster Erman Bakirci.
Imamoglu has defended his record and highlighted local issues in the run-up to the election, saying that “every vote you give the CHP will mean more metros, creches, green spaces, social benefits and investment.”
Around midday on Sunday, Imamoglu cast his ballot in Istanbul with his family. When he came out, he was greeted with cheers and chanting of “Everything will be fine,” which was his campaign slogan for 2019.
In the grounds of a school polling place, Imamoglu remarked, “Today is an emotional day for me.”
The lira has severely depreciated, falling from 19 to a dollar to 31 to a dollar in just a single year, and inflation represents a staggering 67% of the election’s costs. According to analysts, this can be advantageous to the opposition.
One person is confirmed dead and twelve injured from armed conflicts in the southeast of Turkiye, which is home to a large Kurdish population, a local official told AFP.
Pro-Kurdish DEM party claimed to have found anomalies “in almost all the Kurdish provinces,” citing dubious proxy voting cases in particular.
A polling place in the area was likewise closed to French observers, according to the Lawyers’ Association of the Region.
Broken opposition
In Turkiye’s 81 provinces, ballots could be cast for mayors, provincial council members, and other local authorities by an estimated 61 million people.
Unlike the local elections five years ago, the opposition is divided ahead of the polls.
The largest opposition party, the social democratic CHP, has not been able to unite around a single candidate this time around.
