Sharp setback for President Recep Tayyp Erdogan's party. Sunday 31 March were held all over Turkey local elections and the results have been disastrous for the Sultan.
The leadership of the capital Ankara has passed from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to the opposition, the social democratic Republican People's Party (CHP). It is the first time since 2003, the year in which he was elected prime minister, that Erdogan suffers what can be considered a real electoral defeat, despite the margin obtained in the other territories.
Even more sensational are the results recorded at Istanbul, the most populous city in the country and which alone is worth a third of Turkish GDP, where the opposition has won after 25 years. According to official data released by the state agency Anadolu, the candidate of the Turkish opposition Ekrem Imamoglu was elected mayor with 48,79% of the votes, about 25 more votes than former premier Binali Yildirim, candidate of the AKP of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stopped at 48,51%. However, Erdogan's party has already announced its intention to contest the results, presenting an appeal in the coming days to the Supreme Electoral Commission (Ysk) of Ankara. According to the Akp, there are around 320 ballots to be recounted.
The CHP also won in İzmir, the third largest city in Turkey, and has also conquered the entire Mediterranean belt, subtracting from the Islamic and nationalist right Adana and Antalya, key centers for the economy and tourism. At national level, however, the AKP obtained the highest percentage of votes among the various parties: almost 45 against the 30 won by the CHP, a result that of the opposition which regardless is considered a success, taking into account the fact that almost all of the media in Turkey is in favor of the government and the country's political reality.
The outcome of the administrative was much awaited in Turkey and is seen as a sort of referendum on Erdogan, re-elected president (amid controversy) last June. Erdoğan himself had said that these elections were about the "survival" of the country and the AKP.
The problem is that, meanwhile, Turkey entered an economic recession, for the first time in 10 years. In fact, in the last year the economic parameters have significantly worsened: unemployment has broken through 10% (30% for young people), while inflation has reached 20%. The Turkish lira is in free fall, which in 2018 left 28% of its value on the ground, while the confidence of foreign investors continues to fall.
Although Erdogan remains the most popular politician, the economic difficulties that the country is facing are starting to take their toll from an electoral point of view.
