Despite President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's confidence in recovering for his formation, the Justice and Development Party (AKP), the two main cities of Turkey in the municipal elections held this Sunday, the first official results certified not only that The social democratic opposition would retain both municipalities, but would prevail in much of the country, even in some historic fiefdoms of the ruling party.
Ekrem Imamoglu, current mayor of Istanbul and candidate of the Republican People's Party (CHP), said he was “very happy” with the results in the country's largest city. With almost 80% of votes counted, he obtained 50.5% of the votes compared to 40.7% for former Urban Planning Minister Murat Kurum.
On the other hand, the current mayor of Ankara – the country's capital –, Mansur Yavas, who was also running for reelection for the social democratic CHP, has declared victory according to the initial results, which showed him leading by almost 20% of the votes to its rival from the ruling AKP, a moderate Islamist formation.
Furthermore, with almost 40% of the ballots counted throughout the country, the CHP leads the count in 36 provinces, compared to 23 for the AKP, a striking reversal with respect to the situation of the last 15 years, when Erdogan's party dominated most of the map, with the CHP limited to the western fringe and the Mediterranean coast. The social democratic formation is ahead, even in some regions of Anatolia that until now were a firm stronghold of the AKP.
