Erdogan wants to run for elections for the last time in March

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to run for the last time in the local elections scheduled for the end of next March. The official Anatolia news agency quoted Erdogan as saying yesterday: “This is my last election, my last election.”

Erdogan is considered the most successful politician in modern Turkey, and has led the country for more than two decades. He has won more than a dozen elections since 2002. In May 2023, Erdogan was re-elected to a five-year term in a disputed election.

In 2003 he became Prime Minister and in 2014 President. Erdogan is not running directly in the next elections scheduled for March 31, but the question for his party is whether he can wrest the capital Ankara and the important city of Istanbul from the opposition.

Turkish journalist Recep Soylu commented on the president's announcement, saying: “I feel like Erdogan is stirring up emotions with this statement in order to capture more cities in the mayoral race, but 2028 is a really distant future. By then, he could change his mind several more times or He is trying to change the constitution. Turkey's next regular presidential elections are scheduled to be held in 2028.