Türkiye - March 2024

In the local elections, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) suffered its worst electoral defeat in two decades. The main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), won 37.7 per cent of the vote. It thus surpassed the AKP, which obtained 35.5 per cent of the national vote. While the result marks a significant expansion of CHP's influence beyond its urban strongholds to areas once dominated by the AKP, it remains to be seen if it is a longer term shift that significantly changes the political landscape. CHP won 36 out of 81 municipalities, including mayoral victories in Turkey’s five largest cities: Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bursa, and Antalya. Istanbul’s Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu won by the widest margin seen in 40 years, reaffirming the opposition's strength and solidifying his position as Erdoğan's primary rival. In 2022, Imamoglu was sentenced to two years and seven months in prison and was banned from political activity through a Turkish court verdict, which he has since appealed, with the ruling still pending. Elections saw a near-tripling of female mayors, with women now holding office in 11 out of 81 provinces, up from four in 2019, including five major urban centers. Voter turnout was around 78 per cent, down from 84.3 per cent in 2019.

Sources: Dünya, Türkiye’s Supreme Election Council, Foreign Policy, Deutsche Welle, Reuters (1), Reuters (2), International IDEA