The setback for the Turkish ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the municipal vote is a warning to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, lawmaker Ozturk Yilmaz of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) said.
“The results of these elections reflect economic uncertainty the country has been living in for the past few years, as well as concerns about the government’s polarizing discourse,” Yilmaz said.
He stressed the victory of the opposition CHP put a pressure on it to deliver.
“Let’s see how the opposition fares. Only time will tell how the local authorities treat the newly elected mayors,” the lawmaker added, saying it was too early to predict how the AKP challenge of the results in Istanbul will play out.
With nearly all ballots counted, AKP appears to have lost the capital Ankara to the CHP candidate. The main opposition party also has a paper-thin lead in the biggest city and economic hub Istanbul.
Turks were voting for mayors of 30 metropolitan cities, scores of provincial capitals and hundreds of municipal districts, as well as for local assembly representatives and village administrators.
The AKP-led alliance has been triumphant in the municipal polls after winning 51.6 percent of votes. The CHP-led bloc came second with 37.5 percent. The Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party was backed in the Kurdish-majority southeast.