An electoral bruising for Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey
The opposition triumphs in mayoral elections in Istanbul, Ankara and across the country
Editor’s note: This article was updated on April 1st 2024
TURKEY WOKE up transformed on April 1st, after the country’s main opposition party scored a spectacular upset in local elections. It won big victories in the country’s largest cities, surging past the ruling Justice and Development (AK) party nationwide and handing Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the country’s president, a stinging rebuke. The Republican People’s Party (CHP) got 37.8% of the overall vote, compared with 35.5% for AK. That figure masked landslide wins in the big cities. In Istanbul, the biggest prize, Ekrem Imamoglu, the city’s CHP mayor, coasted to another term. He got 51.1% of the vote, compared with 39.6% for his AK rival, Murat Kurum, a former urban-affairs minister.
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This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline "Strongman trounced"
Europe April 6th 2024
From the April 6th 2024 edition
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