Turkey’s ruling party has not regained control of the country’s two main economic and political centers – Istanbul and Ankara.
Opposition politicians won municipal elections in Turkey’s two main cities – Ankara and Istanbul, defeating candidates from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). The Turkish news agency Anadolu reported this on Sunday, March 31.
The vote is the opposition’s revenge after losing the presidential election in May 2023.
According to published data, the current mayor of Ankara, Mansur Yavas, who ran for the Republican People’s Party (CHP), managed to maintain his position. Based on the results of counting 41.96% of the ballots, the official received 58.56% of the votes, and the candidate of the ruling party Turgut Altinok – 33.63%.
In Istanbul, the current mayor of the city and candidate from the People’s Party, Ekrem Imamoglu, also won. After 67.96% of the ballots were counted, the politician received 50.31% of the votes, while his AKP opponent and former Minister of Environment and Urbanization Murat Kurum received 40.99%.
Municipal elections were held in all 81 provinces of Turkey. All citizens of the country over the age of 18, 61.4 million people, can vote there.
Typically, local elections in Turkey are viewed by analysts as an indicator of support for Erdogan and the stability of the opposition.
In Turkey, in the village of Diyarbakir in the district of Agaclidere, disputes between those who gathered at a polling station developed into violent shooting clashes, as a result of which one person died and more than 10 the injured.
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.