French politicians hail Erdoğan’s local election defeat

The French political scene has hailed the defeat of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) party in the local elections over the weekend, saying it was a blow against “authoritarianism”.

Turkey’s centre-left opposition, behind the Republican People’s Party (CHP), has won the country’s local elections with 37.7% of the vote, ahead of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) with 35.4%.

Starting with the Socialists, the entire French political spectrum welcomed Erdogan’s party’s worst defeat since he took office in 2002.

“Erdoğan must accept to live with a strong desire for change, carried by credible leaders such as the mayor of Istanbul [Ekrem İmamoğlu],” said Pierre Moscovici, former Socialist minister (S&D) and European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs (2014-2019), on X.

Prior to İmamoğlu winning the race for the mayor of Istanbul, the city was an Erdogan stronghold.

Leftist La France Insoumise chief Jean-Luc Mélenchon also welcomed the “electoral victory of the left-wing opposition” in a post on X, particularly that of the People’s Party for Equality and Democracy (DEM) in the Kurdish regions of western Turkey.

For her part, Green MEP Karima Delli warned on X of an “earthquake” and recalled the slogan of Erdogan’s opponents: “Turkey is secular and will remain so”.

On the side of French President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party, MEP Nathalie Loiseau spoke of a “historic defeat” of the “ruling Islamist party”.

On the far right of the political spectrum, the Independent MEP, formerly of Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (ID), then of Reconquête! (ECR), Jérôme Rivière called the election outcome a “ray of hope for the EU” and a “positive signal against authoritarianism”.

Rassemblement National’s Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen have not yet commented publicly,

(Paul Messad| Euractiv.fr) 

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