Election at the end of March

Erdogan: Next election will be my last

President Erdogan is the most successful politician in Turkey today.(Bild: APA/AFP/Adem ALTAN)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Friday evening that the local elections scheduled for March 31 will be his last. This was the first time he had addressed the imminent end of his term in office. This was reported by the state news agency Anadolu. "According to the mandate given by law, this is my last election," Erdogan said.

"With the authority given to me by the law, these elections will be my last elections," said Erdogan, who has ruled Turkey for 20 years - first as prime minister and since 2014 as president. His current term of office, which he took up after narrowly winning the run-off election last year, ends in 2028.

"Running without taking a breather"
"I work without interruption. We are running without taking a breather, because for me this is a finale," Erdogan told a meeting of the Turkish Youth Foundation (TÜGVA) around three weeks before the local elections.

The 70-year-old head of state expressed confidence that his conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) would remain in power after he leaves office. The results of the local elections would be "a blessing for my brothers who come after me. There will be a transfer of trust," emphasized Erdogan.

AKP wants to recapture Istanbul
The biggest challenge for Erdogan's AKP will probably be to recapture the metropolis of Istanbul, whose mayor Erdogan was in the 1990s. It went to the opposition in the 2019 local elections.