Turkey's Erdogan faces uncertain future after shock election losses expert says

The shocking losses for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s party in the country's local elections may serve as a preview for the next general election, but the effects in the short term will likely remain minimal, according to an expert.

"I think in the short run, nothing changes in Turkey because the election was not about the government, it was about local government," Asli Aydintasbas, an associate senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told Fox News Digital.

"The government gets to run the country still, but, in reality, you are seeing the emergence of the mayor of Istanbul, coming from a secular center-left opposition to Erdoğan in a race that very much felt like a race between Erdoğan and the mayor, which means you’re going to possibly have him run against Erdoğan in the next general election," she added.

The Republican People’s Party (CHP) won the municipalities in nearly half of Turkey’s 81 provinces, with the party leader and Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu winning re-election by a wide margin. The capital city Ankara’s Mayor Mansur Yavas, a CHP candidate, also won re-election with a 25-point lead over his challenger.

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The 37% nationwide support that CHP won is the greatest amount it won against Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) since he took power two decades ago, outperforming AKP’s 36% support for the first time ever. He had looked to re-establish influence over the municipalities of the country’s two largest cities but failed to make a dent as rampant inflation and economic woes continued to plague the country.

"I was expecting the opposition to win Istanbul in Ankara, for sure,