ISTANBUL, April 1, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan’s AKP suffered a blow in Sunday’s local election with the ruling
party set to lose the capital Ankara and risking defeat in the country’s
economic hub Istanbul.
Losing Turkey’s two major cities would be a clear setback for Erdogan and
his Justice and Development Party (AKP) who won every vote in a decade and a
half in power thanks in part to economic growth.
Erdogan portrayed the vote for mayors and district councils as a fight for
Turkey’s survival, but the election was a test for the AKP as an economic
slowdown took hold after a collapse of the lira currency.
With 99 percent of the ballot boxes counted, the joint opposition candidate
for Ankara mayor, Mansur Yavas was winning with 50.89 percent of votes and
the AKP on 47.06 percent, Anadolu state agency reported citing preliminary
results.
In Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, the race for mayor was deadlocked with
the AKP candidate claiming victory with 48.70 percent of votes, but his
opponent on 48.65 percent also saying he had won, after almost all ballot
boxes were counted there.
The last results published by Anadolu gave the AKP a lead of just 4,000
votes and the ruling party said it planned to challenge tens of thousands of
ballots it considered invalid in both of the major cities.
Speaking to thousands of supporters in Ankara, Erdogan portrayed the
election as a victory for AKP, which along with coalition partner, the
rightwing Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), won more than 50 percent of the
votes nationwide. But he did not refer directly to the loss of Ankara.
“If there are any shortcomings, it is our duty to correct them,” Erdogan
told supporters. “Starting tomorrow morning, we will begin our work to
identify our shortcomings and make up for them.”
He suggested if his party lost in Istanbul, they would still control
district councils even if the opposition held the mayor’s office.
Sunday’s poll was the first municipal ballot since Turks approved
constitutional reforms in 2017 to create an executive presidency that gave
Erdogan wider powers after 16 years in office.
But Erdogan, whose ability to win continuously at the polls is unparalleled
in Turkish history thanks to support among more pious, conservative Turks,
was more vulnerable with the economy in recession, unemployment higher and
inflation in double digits.
– Ankara fireworks –
For his supporters, Erdogan remains the strong leader they believe Turkey
needs and they tout the country’s economic development over the years he and
the AKP have been in power.
But rights activists and even Turkey’s Western allies say that under
Erdogan’s leadership, democracy has been eroded, particularly after a failed
2016 coup that led to tens of thousands of people being arrested.
Much of the AKP’s success has been down to Erdogan’s perceived economic
prowess, but days before the vote, the Turkish lira was sliding again,
provoking memories of the 2018 currency crisis that badly hurt Turkish
households.
In Ankara, Yavas — the candidate for both the opposition Republican
People’s Party or CHP and the nationalist Good Party — claimed victory in a
large rally full of supporters waving red Turkish flags and setting off
fireworks.
“No one has lost. Ankara has won. All of Ankara has won, hand in hand,” he
told supporters. Yavas had been slightly ahead in some recent opinion polls
before the election.
“Erdogan is known with his success in the local elections and his model of
government is highly based on his local experience,” Emre Erdogan, a
professor at Istanbul Bilgi University and no relation to the president.
“These losses will harm his reputation as a good local politician.”
– Istanbul dead heat –
In Istanbul, a city where Erdogan had sometimes described victory as like
winning Turkey itself, the race had been very tight. Erdogan fielded one of
his loyalists, former prime minister Binali Yildirim, in a push to win the
city.
Erdogan, who began his own political career as Istanbul mayor, personally
campaigned hard across Turkey, often with several rallies a day, even though
he was not on the ballot. He was often rallying in Istanbul’s districts.
“We have won the election in Istanbul. We thank Istanbul’s residents for
the mandate they have given us,” Yildirim told supporters as final tallies
were arriving.
But his opponent Ekrem Imamoglu dismissed Yildirim’s claim as an attempt to
manipulate opinion.
“I would like to announce to Istanbul’s residents and all of Turkey that
our numbers show that it is clear we won Istanbul,” Imamoglu said in a speech
in the early hours of Monday.
Looking to galvanise his base among conservative Turks, the president cast
the election as a matter of survival, attacking opposition candidates by
branding them as linked to PKK Kurdish militants.
Observers say that with most media pro-government, opposition parties
campaigned at a disadvantage because Erdogan’s daily rallies dominated TV
coverage.
The opposition pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has refused to
field candidates in several cities, saying the elections are unfair. Some of
its leaders have been jailed on terror charges, accusations they reject.