Erdogan bloc ‘loses Ankara’ in local polls; Istanbul race tight

Istanbul, Turkey – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party is locked in a tight race for control of Istanbul, the country’s largest city, as the main opposition alliance appears set to win the local election race in the capital, according to partial results.

With 99 percent of the votes counted in Istanbul, Binali Yildirim, the candidate of Erdogan’s People’s Alliance and a former prime minister, was in the lead with 48.7 percent, state-run Anadolu Agency said on Sunday. Ekrem Imamoglu, the candidate of the opposition Nation Alliance, had 48.65 percent. 

In Ankara, preliminary results showed that Nation Alliance candidate Mansur Yavas had garnered 50.6 percent, with 92 percent of the votes counted. He was followed by Mehmet Ozhaseki, the People’s Alliance nominee in the capital, with 47.2 percent. 

In the third-largest city, Izmir, the Nation Alliance candidate Mustafa Tunc Soyer was in the lead with 58.1 percent. Nihat Zeybekci, the candidate of Erdogan’s bloc, had 38.5 percent.

Nationwide, with 91.7 percent of the provincial votes counted, the People’s Alliance, which is comprised of the AK Party and the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), had secured 51.7 percent of the votes.

It was followed by Nation Alliance, a coalition made up by the centre-left Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the right-wing Good Party, with 37.6 percent.

Erdogan vows economic reforms

The polls posed a major challenge for Erdogan given a backdrop of high inflation and rising unemployment sparked by a major currency crisis last year.

Speaking at a news conference in Istanbul, Erdogan on Sunday acknowledged that his party had lost control in a number of cities, and pledged that he would focus on carrying out economic reforms.

Erdogan, who was elected last year as the country’s first executive president, said the next polls would be held in June 2023, adding that Turkey would carefully implement a “strong economic programme” without compromising on free-market rules. 

Murat Yetkin, a Turkish political analyst, told Al Jazeera that if “the Erdogan-led AK Party-MHP alliance loses Istanbul [along with Ankara] as well, that means loss of control over five major cities in Turkey.”

“Even if Istanbul, with 11 million voters, is won with a few thousand votes, it will be perceived as a major loss,” he said.

“The results also show that the executive presidential system, which was designed to avoid coalitions, has led to a de facto coalition, since the AK Party cannot maintain majority without its symbiotic partnership with MHP.”

Ozgur Dilber, a CHP volunteer, said the results showed that the AK Party’s popularity was waning – even if  Erdogan’s bloc won in Istanbul.

“To me, the results are a proof that the number of voters who want change is increasing,” he told Al Jazeera outside the party’s election monitoring office.

Focus on economy, security

Earlier this month, official statistics showed that in the last two quarters of 2018 the Turkish economy slipped into its first recession in a decade, as inflation and interest rates soared due to the currency meltdown.

In February, inflation stood at just under 20 percent, while the Central Bank’s main interest rate is currently 24 percent.  

In the lead-up to Sunday’s vote, the People’s Alliance sought to link the local polls to internal and external risks threatening the country’s security.

Erdogan has often blamed foreign powers and “speculators” for the currency fluctuations and other economic woes faced by Turkey – a message he repeated this week.

For its part, the main opposition alliance has focused its campaign on the economic situation and its effect on citizens.

It also used Turkish flags in their campaigns, rather than party banners, in an apparent bid to attract voters from different backgrounds.

Follow Umut Uras on Twitter @Um_Uras