jordan pulse -

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke on Friday for the first time about leaving power, stressing that the municipal elections scheduled for March 31 will be his “last,” according to what Agence France-Presse reported.

Erdogan, who has been in power since 2003 as prime minister and then president, said, "I continue to work without stopping. We run without breathing because for me this is the end. With the authority granted to me by law, these elections are my last elections."

"But the result will be a blessing for my brothers who will come after me. There will be a transfer of confidence," he told a crowd of the Turkish Youth Foundation 22 days before the elections.

The main electoral bet for the ruling Justice and Development Party is to restore Istanbul, the main city and economic capital of the country, which passed into the hands of the opposition in 2019 and Erdogan himself was its mayor in the 1990s.

Opinion centers in Turkey say that the division between the opposition parties strengthens President Erdogan's hopes that his Justice and Development Party will be able to regain Istanbul in the upcoming municipal elections after he won the presidency last year for a third and final term in accordance with the constitution.

Last week, Turkey's Supreme Election Authority published the final lists of candidates for the local general elections that will be held on March 31 on its website.
According to the list, Istanbul has become the largest city in which candidates will compete for the position of mayor of the major city, with 49 candidates, including 22 from political parties and 27 independents.