Opposition in Turkey retains Istanbul and Ankara

(Patria) - A portion of the counted votes in Turkey's local elections showed that the opposition in Istanbul and Ankara has favorable prospects, official media reported, despite President Recep Tayyip Erdogan being engaged in his AKP party's campaign.

With 33 percent of the votes counted, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu (CHP) received 49.7 percent of the votes, and his main opponent from the ruling AKP party received 41.5 percent. In Ankara too, opposition Mayor Mansur Yavas received 56.3 percent of the votes, and his opponent 36.3 percent, after 12.4 percent of the votes were counted.

Turkish President Erdogan, in power for more than two decades, was engaged in the campaign, especially in Istanbul, the country's economic and cultural center, of which he was mayor in the 1990s. However, according to the initial results, this did not help his party.

Critics say President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has silenced dissent, eroded human rights, and controls the judiciary and other state institutions, which Turkish officials deny. Imamoglu's re-election as the head of the country's largest city would launch him into the race for the 2028 presidential elections.

In the rest of the country, AKP candidates are expected to lead the race in several large cities in Anatolia and on the Black Sea, which are President Erdogan's strongholds. The pro-Kurdish DEM party is likely to win in large cities in the Kurdish-majority southeast, including Diyarbakir.