Election results of 2009 (AKP yellow, CHP red, MHP claret, DTP green)
Election results of 2007 (AKP yellow, CHP orange, MHP purple, DTP blue)
Today's local elections show that this might be the beginning of AKP's end.
It seems that the rise of political Islam in Turkey has come to an end. It had all started by the foundation of Refah (Welfare) Party in the early 1990s. Since then, Refah and its successors (namely, Fazilet, Saadet and AKP), have been increasing their share of votes in every election. This is the first time that they lose ground.
Early results show that AKP (Islamist) is around 38 percent, CHP (center left) is around 23 percent and MHP (rightist) is around 16 percent. AKP lost several municipalities (check the maps, comparing the 2007 elections to tonight's results). Several coastal provinces are now belonged to CHP and MHP. And DTP (Kurdish nationalist) won several southeastern provinces. CHP was also surprisingly competitive in Istanbul and Ankara.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan admits that he is disappointed with the results. AKP had initially declared that their goal in this election was 52 percent. Then they revised it to 47 percent and then, finally, to 42 percent, which was the result of the last local elections in 2004. Today's score is around 4 percent lower than their minimum threshold.
Turkey still didn't feel the bitter consequences of the global economic crisis. Wait for the next general elections, which might occur earlier than it is expected. We may witness the true fall of AKP then.
Because a new political landscape is being shaped in Turkey...
