How did Turkey’s main opposition party challenge Erdogan so successfully? | DW News

Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his conservative party have suffered a major blow in local elections. Turkey's main opposition party, the secular CHP, claimed victory in key cities, including Istanbul and the capital Ankara. Erdogan called the setback a "loss of altitude" and said his party would analyze the message the people had given him. The CHP secured the highest number of mayoral seats in 81 cities according to unofficial preliminary results shared by state news agency Anadolu in a massive blow for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP). "Tonight, 16 million Istanbul citizens sent a message to both our rivals and the president," the incumbent mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu told supporters late on Sunday. "Thank you Istanbul," he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. Millions of Turks cast their vote to elect mayors and administrators in local elections on Sunday. The vote gauged Erdogan’s popularity as his ruling party tries to win back key cities. The main battleground for the Turkish president was Istanbul, where he was born and raised and where he began his political career as mayor in 1994. The votes are seen as a bellwether of support for the president and his increasingly authoritarian rule. Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/user/deutsche... For more news go to: http://www.dw.com/en/ Follow DW on social media: ►Facebook:   / deutschewellenews   ►Twitter:   / dwnews   ►Instagram:   / dwnews   ►Twitch:   / dwnews_hangout   Für Videos in deutscher Sprache besuchen Sie:    / dwdeutsch   #turkey #elections #erdogan