Last Sunday’s presidential vote saw President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan winning a historic run-off election, extending his two-decade rule to 2028. However, while having far-reaching effects on the country’s future and the ruling coalition, his victory might also have significant implications for the opposition.

Failing to defeat Erdoğan despite the opposition’s and its voter base’s high expectations, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu faces extensive criticism, while the six-party opposition bloc is facing challenges to maintain their alliance for next year’s local votes.

Erdoğan was seen at his most vulnerable with the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising inflation, a cost-of-living crisis and the aftermath of February’s deadly earthquakes that cost the lives of at least 50,000.

The fact that Kılıçdaroğlu lost against Erdoğan once again led many opposition members and supporters to frustration, soul-searching and considering leadership changes.

Kılıçdaroğlu’s candidacy had been opposed by many opposition voters, Republican People’s Party (CHP) ranks and the Good Party (IP), which is part of the six-party opposition alliance, since the beginning. Kılıçdaroğlu, a former civil servant failing to incite excitement among voters, had been losing against the incumbent for years.

The opposition base thus favored to see Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu or Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş as the candidate for the opposition bloc.

Now with another defeat, calls have increased for his resignation.

Yet, in his first public remarks following the election on Sunday, Kılıçdaroğlu indicated he would continue at the helm of the CHP.

"Our walk continues and will do so," he said. "Stand tall," he added. "We will work for a more democratic Türkiye."

Barış Doster, a Faculty Member of Marmara University, likened Kılıçdaroğlu’s situation to that of his predecessor Deniz Baykal. "Some people around Baykal insisted that he should not resign and owed their political careers, seats, mayorships and parliamentary positions to Baykal. Similar cadres surround Kılıçdaroğlu as well."

"The CHP needs to embrace its core values, roots, and founding principles. Türkiye needs the real CHP, not a new CHP. Defending labor, equality, enlightenment, independence, secularism, the Republic, the nation-state, national unity and Atatürk, while being convincing, sincere and consistent in this," Doster added.

"The CHP, which could not stand in front of its own voters on the election day, which has formed a leader cult around its chairperson who is not held accountable after losing, whose unqualified headquarters team has not changed for years, needs to change," Berk Esen, Sabancı University political science assistant professor wrote on Twitter similarly.

Many in the CHP ranks are also troubled that the CHP’s own lawmakers decreased this term as their lists included lawmakers from smaller coalition parties whose votes only comprise small percentages.

Some 15 lawmakers of the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) entered CHP lists, while 10 entered from the Future Party (GP), another 10 from Felicity Party (SP), and three from the Democrat Party.

On the other side, according to some party members and analysts, Kılıçdaroğlu will need to immediately re-focus on maintaining control of Türkiye’s big cities in the municipal elections. The 2019 municipal elections saw the opposition scrape into power in Istanbul and Ankara for the first time since the 1990s.

"You have to leave this party. You must not delay this decision for local or other elections. There is a need for renewal. You have to be a leader who wins, not participate in elections. You enter all elections and lose. This election was important and after losing this important election, you should not have another chance," pro-opposition journalist Fatih Portakal said on Sözcü TV following the elections.

On Sunday, Türkiye went to the polls for a presidential runoff election after no candidate secured over 50% needed for an outright victory in the first round on May 14.

Erdoğan won the race with more than 52% of the vote, while opposition candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu got over 47%, according to the unofficial results.