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Turkey local election: Opposition's CHP party leading in key cities

Ekrem Imamoglu at a campaign rally in Istanbul on April 15, 2019. (Photo: Yasin Akgul/AFP)

By DW News | 31 Mar 2024

Early results showed Turkey's opposition, the Republican People's Party (CHP), leading in Istanbul and Ankara in local elections.

Partial results have Turkey's opposition candidate and incumbent mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, leading in local elections, according to local media.

Broadcaster NTV said on Sunday that the country's main opposition, the Republican People's Party (CHP) had 49.6 per cent, with 20 per cent of ballots counted in the country's largest city.

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"Based on the data we have obtained, I can say that our citizens' faith in us has been rewarded," Imamoglu told reporters at the CHP's Istanbul headquarters.

Murat Kurum, the candidate from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP), which rules nationally, had 41.6 per cent.

In Turkey's capital Ankara, the CHP candidate was leading with 56.3 per cent and the ruling party candidate had 36.3 per cent with 12 per cent of ballots counted.

The CHP appeared to be leading in 35 of Turkey's 81 provinces, according to the preliminary results reported by state broadcaster TRT.

In 2019, the CHP won in Istanbul and Ankara, with the ruling party demanding a rerun of the Istanbul vote, claiming there had been irregularities. The CHP also managed to win the rerun in the key battleground city.

Earlier this month, Erdogan, who himself was mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998, said the municipal elections would be his last. He has been in power since 2003, when he was elected prime minister and then president in 2014.

In 2017, a constitutional change abolished the office of prime minister, giving Erdogan full executive power.

In May last year, Erdogan fell short of a majority of votes in the first round of presidential elections. In 2014 and 2018, he won outright and there was no runoff vote.