Turkish mayors may regret election wins due to huge debts

The municipalities recently lost by the ruling party in Turkey to the opposition have billions of dollars of debt and opposition candidates might bitterly regret that they won a recent election.

After President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's AKP lost several municipalities to the opposition on March 31, newly elected mayors are now complaining about the mountains of debt it left behind.

The money owed includes 22 billion liras ($3.6 billion) in the country's financial powerhouse of Istanbul and 9.5 billion liras in the capital Ankara. The total nationwide exceeded 40 billion liras, according to figures published by the newspaper.

The most important reason for the financial shortfall was overspending, including the pursuit of mega construction projects regardless of whether they were beneficial to the public. The cities were mired in debt but still spending lavishly.

The AKP lost seven of the country’s 12 main cities, excluding Istanbul, in the nationwide local elections. The main opposition's mayoral candidate narrowly won the mayoral race for Istanbul, but Turkey's top electoral board annulled the vote and announced a rerun for June 23.