2024 local election in Turkey: CHP defeats AKP after 22 years

2024 local election was held on March 31 and CHP enjoyed the victory it had hoped for in the 2023 general elections – albeit with a delay. On the other hand, disappointment similar to what the opposition experienced in May is evident in the ruling AK Party; because, for the first time nationwide, AKP fell behind CHP. MHP also fell below the electoral threshold.

The opposition entered the general elections in May under the leadership of the then CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, almost certain that they would win as the Nation Alliance, but suffered a defeat against both the People’s Alliance and President Tayyip Erdoğan.

The disappointment deepened as Kılıçdaroğlu refused to resign despite pressures. In this situation, the team led by Ekrem İmamoğlu, known as the ‘reformists’, managed to take the leadership from Kılıçdaroğlu and entrusted it to Özgür Özel.

However, this ‘change’ was not enough to revive the crumbling alliance. İYİ Party hastily withdrew from the alliance and announced that it would enter the local elections with its own candidates. DEM Party, which supported the Nation Alliance from the outside, also decided to enter the election with its own candidates, causing AKP’s appetite to grow.

Erdoğan began to speak as if he had already won the local elections, especially emphasizing that they would regain all the metropolitan cities, including Istanbul and Ankara, which they lost in 2019.

NO ONE EXPECTED THIS RESULT

The general expectation of the opposition was that there might be losses due to fragmentation, but at least the big cities and traditional strongholds would be retained.

However, the election results produced unexpected outcomes. AKP not only failed to win Istanbul and Ankara, which it had targeted, but also lost its strongholds such as Adıyaman and Şanlıurfa. Losing 11 districts in Istanbul to CHP was also a blow.

AKP’s defeat did not stop there. Despite receiving support from MHP in many places, it fell behind CHP in the overall national vote share. This result is the heaviest blow since it came to power in 2002.

CHP BECOMES THE FIRST PARTY FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1977

In the end, CHP, which has been hovering around 25% for years, made a strong move and managed to surpass AKP with about 39 percent (against AK Party’s 38 percent) for the first time in an election – for the first time since 1977.

In Hatay, one of the cities where the result was eagerly awaited, CHP lost despite criticism, with its candidate Lütfü Savaş.

AK PART LOSES ISTANBUL, ITS MOST IMPORTANT TARGET; VICTORY ONCE AGAIN BELONGS TO EKREM IMAMOGLU

Current mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who won Istanbul once again, defeated President Erdoğan for the third time. It is known that İmamoğlu not only fought against his inadequate opponent, AK Party candidate Murat Kurumi, but also against 17 cabinet ministers and Erdoğan himself.