Opposition party shocks ruling party in Türkiye's municipal elections

Türkiye elected 30 metropolitan municipality and 51 district mayors, neighborhood heads and provincial and district councils for a five-year mandate following last year’s presidential and parliamentary elections.

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has won 35 cities out of 81, including 14 metropoles such as Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir, while the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) won 13 metropoles and 12 cities, according to the last results of Türkiye’s local polls.

99 percent of votes counted late on March 31, the CHP garnered around 38 percent of votes, the highest since the 1989 local elections, surpassing the AKP for the first time which secured around 36 percent of votes.

The results indicate a big leap in the votes of the CHP, especially in regions where the AKP has been traditionally strong such as Bursa, Balıkesir, Denizli, Uşak, Kütahya, Kırıkkale and Afyonkarahisar.

In Istanbul with 16 million residents, CHP’s Ekrem İmamoğlu won almost half of the votes against AKP’s Murat Kurum and secured his second term.

The CHP also increased the number of districts it controls in Türkiye’s city.

In Ankara, incumbent Mayor Mansur Yavaş of the CHP had a comfortable win against AKP’s Turgut Altınok with 60 percent of the votes as Altınok obtained 34 percent of the votes. The main opposition party increased the number of districts in the Turkish capital.

A stronghold of the CHP, İzmir has voted in favor of the main opposition candidate, Cemil Tugay against the AKP’s Hamza Dağ. The former had 49 percent of the votes. The CHP continued its helm in the Mediterranean coastal towns of Antalya, Adana and Mersin but lost Hatay to the AKP.

The majority of voters in Eskişehir, Edirne, Çanakkale, Aydın and Muğla voted once again for the CHP candidates in the polls.

DEM Party wins three big cities

The Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) won three metropoles, Diyarbakır, Mardin and Van, as well as seven cities in the southeastern Anatolian region. The party’s overall votes were slightly more than 5 percent, indicating a decrease compared to previous elections.

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the AKP’s main political ally, won eight cities and the İYİ (Good) Party one city. The former had 3.5 percent and the latter around 3 percent in overall votes. The New Welfare Party (YRP) won two cities, Şanlıurfa and Yozgat with around 5 percent of votes across the country.