The verdict is out: The Turkish people have given Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a clear mandate to run this country and continue his quest to build a "new Turkey" despite graft charges, slanders, insults and with "someone" trying to stir up trouble.

The nation also rejected a return to "old Turkey" where the elite minority tried run the majority through a system of humiliation and repression to maintain their system of plunder.

This was a local election where we elect our local administrators but both the government and the opposition declared it a referendum on Erdoğan's administration and the verdict was crystal clear: Carry on Erdoğan.

However, this also is a message from the voters to Erdoğan and ONLY to Erdoğan that they want HIM to lead them and no one else. This means the prime minister has to find a way to continue to run the country for the next four to five years and build the "new Turkey" he has promised preferably as a truly advanced democracy.

Erdoğan will have to face tough decisions at home and abroad especially as he puts his own house in order at the AK Party and overcomes the clandestine challenges to his administration.

Those who expect the pre-elections tensions to fall may not be happy but I have news for them: These tensions will not subdue as we now head for presidential elections and probably to parliamentary elections. So sooner the parliamentary elections the better.