The opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has become the strongest force in Turkey's local elections. On Monday, the Electoral College confirmed the surprising election result, which had already become clear overnight. The head of the electoral body, Ahmet Yener, said that the center-left party won 35 out of 81 municipal positions nationwide, according to preliminary results. The official final result is still pending.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's conservative Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) became the second strongest force for the first time since its founding in 2002. It won 24 mayoral positions.

Voter turnout in Türkiye is about 80 percent

The head of the electoral body said that the pro-Kurdish Democratic Party won ten seats, while the Nationalist Movement Party, Erdogan's partner in the government, won eight seats. The Islamist Yeniden Refah Party won two positions, but became the third strongest party in terms of national average percentage (6.2%) – albeit far behind the AKP, which took second place (35.5%), and the CHP, which took first place (37.7%). . .

Yener said voter turnout was lower than in previous local elections: it ranged between 78.1 and 80.7 percent. In 2019, according to Anadolu, about 84 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in local elections.

SPÖ's federal director, Sandra Breitender, congratulated the Social Democratic sister Republican People's Party (CHP) on its significant electoral successes in Turkey's local elections in a broadcast on Sunday: “The elections show that the AKP's politics in Turkey have reached their limits.” Under the difficult circumstances of high inflation rates and the difficult economic situation, the people of Turkey sent a clear signal for political change. “I hope this shift will lead to social and democratic policy making for the people again,” Breitender said.

(Source: APA)