Erdogan acknowledged the electoral setback in a speech, saying his party had suffered “a loss of altitude” across Turkey, writes Euronews.

Turkey’s main opposition party retained its control over key cities and made huge gains elsewhere in local elections on Sunday. The results are a major upset for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had set his sights on retaking control of those urban areas.

With more than 90% of ballot boxes counted, incumbent Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) led by a wide margin in Turkey’s largest city and economic hub, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.

Mansur Yavas, mayor of the capital, Ankara, retained his seat with a stunning 25-point difference over his challenger, the results indicated. In all, the CHP won the municipalities of 36 of Turkey’s 81 provinces, according to Anadolu, making inroads into many strongholds of Erdogan’s party.

It gained 37% of the votes nationwide, compared to 36% for the president’s party, marking the CHP’s greatest electoral victory since Erdogan came to power two decades ago.

Erdogan acknowledged the electoral setback in a speech, saying his party had suffered “a loss of altitude” across Turkey. The people delivered a “message” that his party will “analyse” by engaging in “courageous” self-criticism, he said: “Unfortunately, nine months after our victory in the May 28 elections, we could not get the result we wanted in the local election test. We will correct our mistakes and redress our shortcomings”.

He vowed to press ahead with an economic programme introduced last year that aims to combat rampant inflation that has ravaged the country and hit Turks hard.