Elections blow for Erdogan as opposition retain cities and make big gains

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>Turkey’s main opposition party retained its control over key cities and made huge gains elsewhere in Sunday’s local elections&comma; preliminary results showed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The outcome was a major upset to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan&comma; who had set his sights on retaking control of those urban areas&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>With nearly 60&percnt; of the ballot boxes counted&comma; incumbent mayor Ekrem Imamoglu&comma; of the Republican People’s Party&comma; or CHP&comma; was leading in Istanbul&comma; Turkey’s largest city and economic hub&comma; according to state broadcaster TRT&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mansur Yavas&comma; the mayor of the capital Ankara&comma; retained his seat with a large margin&comma; the results indicated&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The CHP was leading in 36 of Turkey’s 81 provinces&comma; according to the results reported by TRT&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The vote was seen as a barometer of President Erdogan’s popularity as he sought to win back control of key urban areas he lost to the opposition in elections five years ago&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The CHP’s victory in Ankara and Istanbul in 2019&comma; had shattered Mr Erdogan’s aura of invincibility&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The main battleground for the 70-year-old Turkish president was Istanbul&comma; a city of 16 million people where he was born and raised and where he began his political career as mayor in 1994&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The result came as a boost for the opposition&comma; which was left divided and demoralised after a defeat to Mr Erdogan and his ruling Islamic-oriented Justice and Development Party&comma; or AKP&comma; in last year’s presidential and parliamentary elections&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The voters decided to establish a new political order in Turkey&comma;” CHP leader Ozgur Ozel told a crowd of jubilant supporters&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Today&comma; the voters decided to change the 22-year-old picture in Turkey and open the door to a new political climate in our country&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A large crowd&comma; meanwhile&comma; gathered outside Ankara City Hall to celebrate Mr Yavas’ victory&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Ankara is proud of you&comma;” supporters chanted&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Sinan Ulgen&comma; director of the Istanbul-based Edam think tank&comma; said &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the surprising outcome” was due to voters wanting to punish the ruling party over the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;depth of an economic malaise”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Skyrocketing inflation has left many Turkish households struggling to afford basic goods&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>AKP supporters opted to stay away from the ballot stations or voted for other parties&comma; Mr Ulgen said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Turnout was relatively low compared to past elections&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;There were cross-party shifts in the vote&comma; which did not happen in the national elections because of stronger ideological attachments&period; This time around&comma; the economy prevailed over identity&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>About 61 million people&comma; including more than a million first-time voters&comma; were eligible to cast ballots for all metropolitan municipalities&comma; town and district mayorships as well as neighbourhood administrations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Turnout was about 76&percnt;&comma; according to the state-run Anadolu Agency&comma; compared to 87&percnt; last year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Analysts said a strong showing for Mr Erdogan’s party would have hardened his resolve to usher in a new constitution – one that would reflect his conservative values and allow him to rule beyond 2028 when his current term ends&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Erdogan&comma; who has presided over Turkey for more than two decades – as prime minister since 2003 and president since 2014 – has been advocating for a new constitution that would put family values at the forefront&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Some 594&comma;000 security personnel were on duty across the country to ensure the vote goes smoothly&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Nevertheless&comma; one person was killed and 11 others hurt in the city of Diyarbakir where a dispute over the election of a neighbourhood administrator turned violent&comma; the state-run Anadolu Agency reported&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed120aaf233">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; function &lpar;&rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; 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