Behind Erdoğan's Opposition Party's Regional Election Victory

After announcing the results of the regional elections, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed the Justice and Development Party (AKP) by saying, "We have completed the regional head elections in a manner consistent with democracy."

However, he tried to maintain the morale of the ruling party members by providing encouragement. The reason is, despite all the efforts made by the ruling Justice and Development Party and even cabinet members, the regional head elections in Turkey ended with the victory of the People's Republican Party in important cities in the country, including Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Hatay, Bursa, Antalya and Adana.

In this regional election, the People's Republican Party won more than 37% of the vote, outperforming the ruling party which received 36% of the vote and became the first party in Turkey for the first time after around 50 years.

Turkish President Erdogan accepted the defeat of his rivals and stressed that he had received the message from the ballot box and would carefully evaluate and analyze the election results.

Ali Khazaei, an expert on international political issues highlighted this problem by saying, "After the recent presidential elections in Turkey, Erdogan experienced the busiest days and nights leading up to the Justice and Development Party's victory in the regional elections. Even though he had already taken advantage of in all other legal capacities and for the victory of his party, especially in Istanbul."

The results of regional elections in Turkey, which were associated with the defeat of the Justice and Development Party, have several significance. 

First, this victory provides an important signal for the 2028 presidential election, especially for Erdogan to improve his party. Erdogan announced that his party would try to correct mistakes during this period,'.

Second, Erdoğan was unable to reclaim local seats, especially in Istanbul and Ankara from his opponents. This is despite the fact that he controlled two important cities 25 years ago. But now, the lack of public interest in the Justice and Development Party in main cities such as Istanbul and Ankara is considered a strategic failure of this incumbent party.

Therefore, this important question has emerged in Turkish society, does the decline in the Justice and Development Party's votes indicate that the rise of Erdogan's opponents has begun? Because, Erdogan went further by supporting the candidate from the Justice and Development party, Murat Kurum against Ekrrm Imamoglu in Istanbul, and he used all his power including religious institutions, and other groups that have been the target of many accusations in recent years.

In fact, Erdoğan brought Murat Kurum to meet the center of the Ismailiah congregation in Istanbul and asked Hasan Effendi as the leader of this group to direct his followers to vote for Kurum.

Not only that, Erdogan also took advantage of people's religious sentiments and firmly supported Murat Korum in congregational prayers at the Hagia Sophia Mosque. Together with Kurum, he prayed at this mosque and viewed the transformation of Hagia Sophia into a mosque from its position as a museum as a great revolutionary act. In this way, Kurum tried to gain more votes from Istanbul's conservatives by publishing images of prayers at the historic mosque.

Murat Kurum also tried to use people's emotions regarding the Gaza war to gain votes. In his field speech, he admitted that the people of Gaza could not wait for the good news of their victory, and the day after the victory, he would send several ships of humanitarian aid to Palestine.

Not only that, it is said that several candidates from the Justice and Development Party promised free gold to attract support from housewives, and some also distributed free potatoes and meat.

The third and important point from the results of Turkey's local elections is that the New Welfare Party led by Fatih Erbakan was able to win six percent of the vote in this election.

However, although Erdogan can again count on the Turkish presidency in 2023 and get a majority in parliament with his nationalist allies, the results of the regional elections are very worrying for him and his Justice and Development Party.

Because these results could be the beginning of changes in the rise and fall of political figures in the Turkish political realm, it seems that Imamoglu's expectations to become a political leader at the national level are increasing.

In fact, in general it can be said that economic challenges and high inflation, and at the same time, Erdogan's demagogic slogan-like position regarding the Gaza war and the crimes of the Zionist regime, indicate the waning popularity of the Justice and Development Party.(PH)