Turkey: Erdogan admits his party’s decline in local elections and says “democracy wins”

The President of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdoganadmitted in a speech at midnight this Sunday his party’s setback in the local elections and assured that “democracy wins”.

““We didn’t achieve the results we expected,” said the president in a speech in Ankara, broadcast live on the NTV network.

With 90% of the votes counted, Erdogan’s party, the Islamist AKP, loses the majority of votes for the first time in two decades to the advance of the social democratic CHP, which leads it by 1.5 points, more than half a million votes. wishes .

“The winner in these elections is democracy”Said Erdogan, adding that “the nation has spoken and decided”.

He stressed that the elections took place without major incidents and that the results express the will of the people.

““This is not an end, but a turning point.”said Erdogan, remembering that there are four years until the next general elections.

““We will continue to move forward, we will continue to win: I believe in you.”insisted the president.

The AKP has governed 38 provincial capitals since the 2019 municipal capitals, but if the results come true, it will only have 23 from now on, while the CHP rose from 22 to 36, including some AKP strongholds such as Bursa, the fourth city. in the country.

It also expanded its leadership in Istanbul and Ankara, cities it wrested from the AKP in 2019, after a quarter of a century of Islamic municipal governments.

The left-wing pro-Kurdish DEM party, formerly the HDP, also advanced, moving from 8 to 10 provincial capitals, while the ultranationalist MHP, an ally of Erdogan, fell from 11 to eight.

In two strongholds of the AKP, the important city of Sanliurfa, in the southeast, and Yozgat, in central Anatolia, the Islamic fundamentalist party Yeniden Refah (YRP), until now an ally of Erdogan, but which in these elections decided to run to separate itself, won. it became the third force in votes, with 6%.

The moderate nationalist IYI, until now an ally of the CHP, and the ultranationalist BBP each won a province in central Anatolia.

Source: Elcomercio

jack

I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.