Istanbul and Ankara swing to opposition in local Turkish elections

According to Reuters, the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, from the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), announced his triumph in Sunday evening's local elections among the city's 16 million residents.

Imamoglu, who has led the city since 2019, declared a lead of one million votes with 96% of ballots counted. His main opponent was the former Minister of Environment and member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey, Murat Kurum.

In a related announcement, the mayor of the capital, Ankara, Mansur Yavas, also from the CHP, celebrated his electoral victory.

With about 60% of the votes counted, the CHP led in Turkey's local elections, surpassing the AKP, which secured last year's parliamentary elections. The CHP achieved 37.5%, while the AKP garnered about 36.6%, as the state-run Anatolia news agency reported earlier.

Anatolia's data highlights the CHP's lead in key cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bursa, and Adana.

Balkan Insight has analyzed the early results as a "breakthrough victory" for the opposition. According to the report, this shift suggests that the ruling party may lose control over Turkey's most significant cities and is already seeing its stronghold in Anatolia weaken.