Turkish President and AK Party leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech during a campaign rally ahead of the nationwide local elections in Istanbul.
Image: dpa
Türkiye’s economy is weakening. President Erdoğan promises remedy. But it’s difficult to trust him.
Dhe ruling AKP’s devastating defeat in local elections in Turkey shows how little voters still think of this party, which has the promise of “justice and development” in its name. This particularly affects the president. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was not on the ballot. But this vote was also about his economic policy. Because nothing concerns the Turks more than the question of how they can make ends meet with inflation of almost 70 percent.
If you take Erdoğan at his word, he will no longer run for elections. The constitution still rules out a candidacy for the presidency. To change the constitution, he would need a two-thirds majority in parliament or win a referendum. Both are currently unimaginable. The local elections show that Erdoğan’s victory in the 2023 presidential election was not the result of his strength, but of the weakness of the competition.
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