The pro-Kurdish DEM party won ten mayoral seats, the nationalist National Movement Party (MHP) allied with the ruling party led by Erdogan won eight, and the Islamist Yeniden Refah party won two – Yener explained the data.
The turnout was lower than in previous local elections, between 78.1 and 80.7 percent, according to Yener. According to the report of the Anadolu news agency, 84 percent of voters cast their votes in 2019.
We did not achieve the result we wanted or hoped for
– he said in his speech to Erdogan’s supporters in Ankara late on Sunday. He stated that he respects the decision of the Turkish nation. He also stressed that this is not “the end” but “a turning point” for the AKP to identify and correct mistakes. “Thanks to the rationality of our citizens, Turkish democracy has repeatedly shown its maturity,” he added.
According to the preliminary – not yet official results – presented by Anadolu, in addition to an almost complete total of the votes, Ekrem Imamoglu, the candidate of the CHP, remained the mayor of Istanbul by winning about 51 percent of the votes, while his challenger Murat Kurum (AKP) received approximately 40 percent of the votes. yes.
According to Anadolu, in the capital, Anakara, the incumbent mayor Mansur Yavas (CHP) leads by more than twenty percentage points over his AKP challenger.