On March 31, some 61 million voters will be eligible to vote in local elections in Turkey.
The election will give a clear indication of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's popularity as his Justice and Development Party (AKP) tries to regain key cities it lost five years ago. A victory would add to the president's impressive record of consecutive election victories over the past two decades.
At the same time, keeping municipalities in key cities will help energize the Turkish opposition, which has remained fractured and demoralized since its defeat in last year's presidential election.
In the last local elections held in 2019, the united opposition won the capital Ankara and the metropolis Istanbul, ending the ruling party's 25-year rule.
The loss of Istanbul in particular was a big blow for Erdogan, who began his political career as mayor of the metropolis of nearly 16 million in 1994. Erdogan decided to pit Murat Kurum, a 47-year-old former minister of urbanization and environment, against incumbent mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a popular politician from the main opposition Republican People's Party (RPP). Imamoglu has been touted as a possible presidential candidate to face Erdogan in the next presidential election.
This time, however, 52-year-old Imamoglu will run in local elections without the full support of the Green Left Party (YSP) and the Good Party (IYI), which are fielding their own candidates.
Opinion polls show a close race between Imamoglu and Kurum, who have promised infrastructure projects to make buildings earthquake-proof and ease the city's chronic traffic congestion.
The opposition is expected to retain its positions in Ankara, where incumbent mayor Mansur Yavash, who has also been tipped as a future presidential candidate, remains too popular.
Erdogan, who has been in power for more than two decades as prime minister and then president, has held thousands of campaign rallies across the country campaigning on behalf of mayoral candidates.
He also went to Aksaray, a province in the heart of Anatolia. Addressing around 35,000 people, Erdogan acknowledged the country's current economic problems and said the AKP's priority was to curb rising inflation. He stated that during the last 21 years of the AK Party's rule, Turkey has broken records in production and growth, and is now facing the consequences of wars and crises.
"We are struggling with the high cost of living resulting from the inflation that is hurting us," Erdogan said, highlighting the government's work to boost retirees' pensions, adding that better days lie ahead for Turkey once inflation eases in the second half of the year.
"It doesn't matter how much we pay citizens in these inflationary conditions. We are taking steps to recover the losses in purchasing power," he said.
The six-party opposition alliance led by the RNP fell apart after losing elections last year. Supporters of the alliance were left demoralized after it failed to oust Erdogan despite economic hardship and the effects of catastrophic earthquakes in 2023.
The RNP's ability to hold on to the big cities it won five years ago would help revive the party and allow it to present itself as an equal alternative to the AKP. On the other hand, losing Ankara and Istanbul to the AKP could end the presidential ambitions of Yavash and Imamoglu.
The Republican People's Party moved to reshuffle its leadership soon after the election defeat, but it remains unclear whether the party's new chairman, 49-year-old pharmacist Özgür Özel, can win Turks over. /BGNES
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Sabah newspaper
