TURKEY Elections: Setback for Erdogan in big cities
The party of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has lost control of the capital, Ankara, in local elections, in a blow to his 16-year rule. The main opposition is also slightly ahead in the contest for mayor of Istanbul, figures by the state-run Anadolu news agency suggest. But the president’s AKP party is challenging the […]
TURKEY Elections: Setback for Erdogan in big cities
The party of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has lost control of the capital, Ankara, in local elections, in a blow to his 16-year rule.
The main opposition is also slightly ahead in the contest for mayor of Istanbul, figures by the state-run Anadolu news agency suggest.
But the president’s AKP party is challenging the result in both cities.
Municipal elections were held across the nation on Sunday and an AKP-led alliance won more than 51% of the vote.
The elections, considered a verdict on Mr Erdogan’s rule, have been taking place during an economic downturn.
The currency, the lira, has been losing value recently and the economy went into recession in the last three months of 2018.