Türkiye’s political parties, notably the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), are looking to coax millions of voters who abstained from last Sunday’s local elections and marked a sharp decline in turnout from 2019.
Despite the increase in the number of eligible voters this year, one in four voters – totaling more than 15 million – either refused to vote or make a preference on March 31, pushing parties who suffered losses to track the silent group down and bring them back into the fold through new policies, Turkish newspaper Sabah wrote.
Figures show the number of citizens who went to polls fell by nearly 100,000 this year compared to the 2019 polls despite the fact that eligible voters increased by over 4 million from 57 million five years ago. Additionally, since the presidential and parliamentary elections of May 2023, more than 1.3 million Turks turned 18 and became eligible to vote.
Compared to 84.7% in 2019 and 86.9% in 2023, the participation rate dropped by nearly 5 million people to 78.1% on March 31, meaning 22 out of every 100 voters didn’t go to polls, which climbs to 25 out of every 100 people when the 2,2 million invalid votes are included.
According to preliminary research at parties, "economic conditions, fatigue from back-to-back elections, and dissatisfaction with mayoral candidates" are the main causes of voter abstention.
The AK Party is planning its next steps to win back with a fresh set of policies for resentful voters, especially youths and pensioners, many of whom were led to believe by media campaigns that a wage hike was due ahead of the election.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s party, which lost an election for the first time since 2001, is keen to knock on every door in constituencies where turnout was particularly low to break down reactionary attitudes.
According to unofficial results from the Supreme Election Council (YSK), the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) won an election for the first time in four decades, taking 35 mayoral seats, including 14 metropolitan municipalities like Istanbul and Ankara.
In comparison to the 2019 local polls, the AK Party lost the number of municipalities it governs, as well as the votes it received in the March 31 elections, and won 24 cities, including 12 major cities.
After a lengthy executive meeting focusing on an in-depth analysis of the elections in Ankara on Tuesday evening, Erdoğan said the party was “obliged to realize and fix its mistakes to strengthen its ties with the Turkish people.”
