ANKARA
President and Chairman of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has convened his party’s top executive body to analyze the local election results, which observed a decline in the ruling party’s support.
Erdoğan chaired the meeting at the AKP headquarters with the participation of the members of the Central Executive Council (MYK) on April 2. The 27-member CEC is the party’s top executive body, where Efkan Ala and Mustafa Elitaş are two of Erdoğan’s top aides.
The AKP obtained 35.5 percent of votes, two points behind the Republican People’s Party (CHP). It was the first time that the ruling party was not the first-place party in elections since 2002. The number of municipalities of the AKP has also decreased compared to the 2019 local polls.
During the meeting, the MYK members made presentations about the poll results, especially in the constituencies that the AKP lost, including İstanbul, Ankara and their respective districts. They have also tabled the reasons for the loss.
Erdoğan, in his first statement following the polls on early April 1, stressed that the local election results show that the AKP is suffering a setback. “For sure, we will analyze the reasons for this decline. We will take necessary actions after finding out the reasons of it in the constituencies we lost,” Erdoğan had said.
Recalling that there will be no elections in the next four years, and it is sufficient for the AKP to correct its mistakes, Erdoğan stated.
