March 31 municipal elections “will be my last”, Recep Tayyip Erdogan announces

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke for the first time on Friday, March 8, of the end of his term at the head of Turkey and assured that the March 31 municipal elections would be his. “latest” election

“I continue to work non-stop. We run breathlessly because for me, it is final. With the power given to me by law, this election is my last.”Since 2003 the Prime Minister then in power as the President, announced the Head of State.

“But the resulting outcome will be a blessing to my brothers who will come after me. There will be a transfer of confidence.”He spoke in front of a gathering of the Turkish Youth Foundation (TÜGVA), 22 days before the election.

Istanbul reconquered by AKP

A key issue for the ruling AKP party is recapturing the country’s main city and economic capital, Istanbul, which fell to the opposition in 2019 and of which Erdogan himself was mayor in the 1990s.

Erdogan, 70 since February 26, was re-elected as head of state for five years in a second round of voting last May, the first time since he was elected by universal suffrage as president of the republic in 2014. After changing the constitution and establishing presidential rule, he was re-elected as head of state twice in 2018 and 2023.