Unified local elections were held on March 31st to elect the mayors of Turkey's provincial capitals, and the ruling party led by President Erdoğan lost to the largest opposition party in terms of the national vote share. This is an expression of public dissatisfaction with the sluggish economy and the response to recovery from a major earthquake.
On March 31st, unified local elections were held in Turkey to elect the mayors of 81 prefectural capitals, and the decision was made to address the country's sluggish economy due to chronic inflation and currency depreciation, as well as the outbreak that occurred in February last year, which killed more than 53,000 people. The focus was on responding to the major earthquake that occurred.
According to Turkey's government news agency, Anatolia News Agency, the turnout was over 78%, and the vote counting rate was around 98% as of 9:30 a.m. Japan time on April 1st, with the number of votes cast in the capital Ankara and the largest city. In Istanbul, all incumbent opposition candidates have declared victory.
On April 1, President Erdoğan gave a speech to his supporters at the ruling party's headquarters in Ankara, saying, ``We did not get the results we wanted. We will analyze the results and correct our mistakes.'' acknowledged.
Looking at the vote share by political party in the mayoral elections in each region, the ruling Justice and Development Party led by President Erdoğan got just over 35%, while the largest opposition party, the Republican People's Party, got just over 37%, giving the largest opposition party nearly 2 percentage points. We are making a difference.
The Erdoğan administration's future response will be closely watched as it shows the public's dissatisfaction.