Supporters of the Republican People's Party celebrate after the party achieved great results in the local elections (Getty)
Local elections in Türkiye have a different spirit. When voters are angry with the government, they usually give it a warning message in local elections. As such, either the voter turnout declines, or they give their votes to other parties. This tradition has not changed over the past four years.
The third warning from voters to the Justice and Development Party
No political leader in the history of the Turkish Republic has been able to remain in power as long as President Erdogan, who is loved by many Turks. But this does not negate the fact that the gap between the percentage of votes he received as a presidential candidate and the votes his party obtained is increasing day by day. Voters voted 52 percent for Erdogan in 2023, compared to 34 percent for the Justice and Development Party. This means that citizens are dissatisfied with some aspects of the Justice and Development Party's performance.
Turkish citizens have already expressed their dissatisfaction with the AKP in the 2019 local elections, where Erdogan topped 10 provinces, including major cities, such as Istanbul and Ankara, while his party's vote share fell by ten points. In fact, this represented a reflection of the voters' reaction to the general course of the country, the performance of the government, and especially the economy, not the municipalities.
In the face of all these warnings, the Justice and Development Party did not do what was necessary, and faced a shock wave in the last elections, where it lost 15 more municipalities, out of the 39 municipalities it controlled, and its votes declined further by 9 percent. This is the biggest warning that voters have given to the Justice and Development Party during its 22 years of rule.
Demanding the Justice and Development Party for change
Erdogan said: He sees the election results as “a turning point, not the end.” He gathered the top leadership of his party; To find out the reason for citizens' reactions. Now he will know why the party's voting rates declined in general, and in each city, and why it lost those cities.
The AKP's grand congress will be held this year, and it is necessary to make a strong change there. I have traveled to ten cities in these elections, and I see that there is severe fatigue, erosion and problems in the AKP formations. This conference must produce change in almost all the provinces.
If this is not enough, the party's senior leadership is also expected to witness a radical change. I believe that what needs to change most is the way party leaders practice politics. AKP leaders must return to a humble style that listens to citizens more. Since Erdogan did not make these changes in the recent local and presidential elections, he received a lot of backlash, and his votes declined.
Expect solutions to common problems
Demands for change are not limited to the AKP's management style and its employees. The Justice and Development Party government was unable to find serious solutions to the chronic problems of citizens, the most recent of which is the economic problems that the country witnessed during the past three years, where the inflation rate reached 65 percent, and people began to suffer from serious levels of poverty, while the exchange rate of the dollar became 33 Turkish liras.
There is a significant response to the increases allocated to retirees' pensions, but Turkey's budget is not in a position to allow for more. While a portion of society suffers from serious economic problems, there are others who live in extreme luxury.
This injustice in the distribution of income makes people revolt. In some municipalities and institutions, there are persistent allegations of corruption, bribery and nepotism, and it is natural that reactions to this will increase. There are also problems in the judiciary, in the education system, in employment, and others that the government promised to solve, but has not done so yet, and which have accumulated and caused people to explode in these elections.
Erdogan needs to make radical changes
This reaction, such a drop in votes, and the fact that the dominance of the opposition (CHP) has returned after 47 years, is a situation that no one in Turkey expected. Currently, all political experts, pollsters, politicians and commentators are discussing day and night the reason for this observed change in votes.
It is certain that there will be serious changes in both the opposition and the ruling parties in Türkiye, which lost votes.
But what everyone is impatiently waiting for is what President Erdogan will do in the coming period. I personally expect a big change in the AKP Council, but I do not think there will be a change in the Council of Ministers, perhaps only at the level of one or two ministries.
Erdogan needs to make serious renewal and changes in the bureaucracy, in the field of communications, in the understanding of administration and in state expenditures. The people are very upset; So much so that if there is no improvement by 2028, he may hand the presidency to someone else.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.