Biggest blow to Erdogan: Turkey's opposition secures big win in Istanbul, Ankara

In a massive jolt to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's main opposition party won local elections in two main cities in the country - Istanbul and Ankara. In Istanbul, incumbent mayor Ekrem Imamoglu secured more than 50 per cent of the vote, defeating Erdogan's AK Party candidate by more than one million votes. This was a shock defeat for the president, who returned to power for the third term less than a year ago. 

In Ankara, the capital of Turkey, opposition mayor Mansur Yavas was ahead of his rival by 60 per cent when he declared victory when less than half the votes were counted, BBC reported on Monday. The opposition, the Republican People's Party (CHP), also bagged Turkey's fourth-biggest city Bursa, and retained control of Izmir, Adana, and the resort of Antalya.

After securing a resounding win, Imamoglu said: "As we celebrate our victory, we send a resounding message to the world: the decline of democracy ends now." He said Istanbul stands as a beacon of hope, a testament to the resilience of democratic values in the face of rising authoritarianism. "Our triumph echoes the spirit of our Republic's founding by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, inspiring those under oppressive regimes with a vision of freedom and equality." 

The election result marked the worst defeat for Erdogan and his AK Party (AKP) in their more than two decades in power, and could signal a change in the country's divided political landscape, Reuter said. Erdogan called it a "turning point" in a post-midnight address.

"Those who do not understand the nation's message will eventually lose," Imamoglu told thousands of jubilant supporters late on Sunday, some of them chanting for Erdogan to resign.

"Tonight, 16 million Istanbul citizens sent a message to both our rivals and the president," said the former businessman, who entered politics in 2008 and is now widely touted as a likely presidential challenger.

Erdogan, who in the 1990s was also mayor of his hometown Istanbul, had campaigned hard ahead of the municipal elections, which analysts described as a gauge of both his support and the opposition's durability.

Addressing crowds gathered at AKP headquarters in Ankara, Erdogan said his alliance had "lost altitude" across the nation and would take steps to address the message from voters. "If we made a mistake, we will fix it" in the years ahead, he said. "If we have anything missing, we will complete it."

According to BBC, political scientist Berk Esen said the opposition had delivered the "biggest election defeat of Erdogan's career" and come up with its best results since 1977.