2024 Turkish local elections
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All 81 Provinces of Turkey 30 metropolitan, 922 district and 398 town municipal mayors 1,282 provincial and 21,001 municipal councillors | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 78.53% ( 6.14 pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Local elections in Turkey took place throughout the country's 81 provinces on 31 March 2024.[1] A total of 30 metropolitan and 1,363 district municipal mayors, alongside 1,282 provincial and 21,001 municipal councilors were elected, in addition to numerous local non-partisan positions such as neighborhood representatives (muhtars) and elderly people's councils.
The elections took place ten months after the 2023 parliamentary and presidential elections, where the Nation Alliance opposition coalition suffered an unexpected narrow defeat to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's governing People's Alliance. This was despite an ongoing economic crisis and rapidly rising inflation. Following the defeat, the opposition six-party coalition dissolved, with the main opposition parties Republican People's Party (CHP) and Good Party (İYİ) fielding separate candidates for effectively all mayoral positions. This was the first nationwide election to be contested by the CHP's new leader Özgür Özel, who had successfully challenged his predecessor Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu for the position in November 2023.
The Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM), which succeeded the People's Democratic Party (HDP) as Turkey's principal Kurdish minority rights party, fielded its own candidates in many western metropoles, despite having previously withdrawn candidates in favor of the Nation Alliance.
The results were described as a "spectacular upset" victory for the opposition CHP,[2] which despite the lack of any electoral pacts managed to retain all but one of its metropolitan mayoralties, while winning three more. In particular, the party's candidates in Turkey's largest city İstanbul and capital Ankara, Ekrem İmamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş, were re-elected by landslide 51% and 60%, respectively. Both mayors also won majorities in their respective metropolitan councils, giving them significantly more powers than their previous terms, and are now seen as potential presidential contenders for the 2028 presidential election. The CHP also won many unexpected victories in areas that had been under government control for the previous two decades, including Bursa, Balıkesir, Manisa, Kütahya, Adıyaman, Amasya, Kırıkkale, Kilis and Denizli. The party also managed to win swathes of districts within many provinces, many of which delivered vote swings of over 30% in the CHP's favor. Overall, the CHP won 35 of Turkey's 81 provincial capitals, with the People's Alliance winning 24.[3]
This was the first nationwide election since 1977 where the CHP came first in the popular vote, and the first election where the AK Party did not come first since its foundation in 2001. Nevertheless, the AK Party retained a narrow plurality in the number of district mayoralties won, and the People's Alliance scored small but notable victories against the CHP in Hatay and Kırklareli. The leader of the opposition Good Party (İYİ), Meral Akşener, announced her resignation after her party almost halved its share of the popular vote.[4]
Background
2019 elections
During the local elections of 2019, the opposition parties had formed alliances in key races, and had narrowly defeated the government in the two of the biggest cities in Turkey, namely Istanbul and Ankara. The election in Istanbul was won by a margin smaller than 0.2%, which the government successfully petitioned for a re-run. Τhіѕ сulmіnаtеd іn thе mауοrаl еlесtіοn οf Јunе 2019, whісh thе οррοѕіtіοn wοn іn а lаndѕlіdе.
2023 elections
The elections took place nine months after the 2023 parliamentary and presidential elections, where most parties opposed to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan rallied behind the leader of the Republican People's Party, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, including the center-right Good Party (İYİ) and the pro-Kurdish Green Left Party (YSP) (now renamed to Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM)). Erdoğan, despite the predictions of most surveys, was narrowly reelected. This was despite an ongoing economic crisis and rapidly rising inflation. Following the defeat, the opposition six-party coalition was dissolved by İYİ Party.[citation needed]
Election of Özgür Özel as the leader of CHP
After the electoral defeat, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu remained as the leader of CHP despite calls for him to resign. This culminated in the 2023 congress, where he was ousted by the deputy leader of the parliamentary group of CHP, Özgür Özel, supported by the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu.[citation needed]
Candidates and alliances
People's Alliance
The governing AKP and their main partner MHP entered the election in a partnership, where they endorsed each others' candidates in key districts.[citation needed]
AKP nominated Murat Kurum, former Minister of Transport, for the mayoral election in Istanbul, which was endorsed by MHP. In Ankara, the alliance nominated the mayor of the district of Keçiören, Turgut Altınok.[5]
CHP
The main opposition CHP, which had won Ankara and Istanbul in 2019 nominated the same mayors for a second term. Thus, Ekrem İmamoğlu was nominated for the municipality of Istanbul, and Mansur Yavaş was nominated in Ankara.
İYİ Party
After the 2023 elections, İYİ leader Meral Akşener, along with the party's executive committee, refused to cooperate with CHP like they did in 2019. This was despite the CHP repeatedly offering an alliance with them.[6][7]
Political parties participating in the election
General information about the parties that meet the conditions to participate in the election as of 2 January 2024 is listed here.[8][9] The Innovation Party announced that it would not participate in the election.[10] The places of 35 political parties on the ballot paper were announced by the YSK on 27 January 2024.[11]
Because of long-running court cases the Green Party and the Humanity and Freedom Party were not included in the ballot.[12][13]: 38
| Positions of parties on the ballot papers | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Party | Founded | Leader | Alliance | ||
| 1 | AK Party | Justice and Development Party | 2001 | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan | People's Alliance | |
| 2 | İYİ Parti | Good Party | 2017 | Meral Akşener | — | |
| 3 | SOL | Left Party | 2019 | Önder İşleyen | — | |
| 4 | BBP | Great Unity Party | 1993 | Mustafa Destici | People's Alliance | |
| 5 | Memleket | Homeland Party | 2021 | Muharrem İnce | — | |
| 6 | ANAP | Motherland Party | 2011 | İbrahim Çelebi | — | |
| 7 | DSP | Democratic Left Party | 1985 | Önder Aksakal | — | |
| 8 | Yeniden Refah | New Welfare Party | 2018 | Fatih Erbakan | — | |
| 9 | DEM Party | People's Equality and Democracy Party | 2012 | Tülay Hatimoğulları Oruç Tuncer Bakırhan |
— | |
| 10 | TKP | Communist Party of Turkey | 2001 | Kemal Okuyan[d] | — | |
| 11 | ABP | Anatolia Union Party | 2020 | Bedri Yalçın | — | |
| 12 | ZP | Victory Party | 2021 | Ümit Özdağ | — | |
| 13 | HKP | People's Liberation Party | 2005 | Nurullah Ankut | — | |
| 14 | TKH | Communist Movement of Turkey | 2015 | Aysel Tekerek[d] | — | |
| 15 | BTP | Independent Turkey Party | 2001 | Hüseyin Baş | — | |
| 16 | Gelecek Partisi | Future Party | 2019 | Ahmet Davutoğlu | Felicity and Future Alliance | |
| 17 | YTP | New Turkey Party | 2013 | Engin Yılmaz | — | |
| 18 | CHP | Republican People's Party | 1923 | Özgür Özel | — | |
| 19 | EMEP | Labour Party | 1996 | Selma Gürkan | ||
| 20 | HÜDA PAR | Free Cause Party | 2012 | Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu | — | |
| 21 | HAK-PAR | Rights and Freedoms Party | 2002 | Düzgün Kaplan | — | |
| 22 | Ocak | Hearth Party | 2023 | Kadir Canpolat | — | |
| 23 | AB PARTİ | Justice Union Party | 2018 | İrfan Uzun | — | |
| 24 | DP | Democrat Party | 2007 | Gültekin Uysal | — | |
| 25 | GBP | Power Union Party | 2020 | Ali Karnap | — | |
| 26 | MİLLET | Nation Party | 1992 | Cuma Nacar | — | |
| 27 | Milli Yol | National Path Party | 2021 | Remzi Çayır | — | |
| 28 | AP | Justice Party | 2015 | Vecdet Öz | — | |
| 29 | GP | Young Party | 2002 | Hakan Uzan | — | |
| 30 | ADP | Enlightened Democracy Party | 2021 | Zeynep Yıkarbaba | — | |
| 31 | MHP | Nationalist Movement Party | 1969 | Devlet Bahçeli | People's Alliance | |
| 32 | TİP | Workers' Party of Turkey | 2017 | Erkan Baş | — | |
| 33 | DEVA | Democracy and Progress Party | 2020 | Ali Babacan | — | |
| 34 | SAADET | Felicity Party | 2001 | Temel Karamollaoğlu | Felicity and Future Alliance | |
| 35 | VP | Patriotic Party | 2015 | Doğu Perinçek | — | |
Security concerns and incidents
Around 594,000 security personnel were deployed nationwide to ensure the regular conduct of the election.[14]
On 10 February, gunmen opened fire at a campaign event in the Küçükçekmece district municipality of Istanbul for AKP mayoral candidate Aziz Yeniay, critically injuring one person. Seventeen people were arrested in connection with the attack.[15]
On 10 March, 33 people suspected of involvement with Islamic State were arrested in police raids in Sakarya Province on suspicion of plotting attacks ahead of the election. Authorities also recovered weapons, cash and "organizational documents".[16]
On election day, one person was killed and 11 others were injured following a dispute over the election of a neighborhood administrator in Diyarbakır, while six people were injured in clashes in Şanlıurfa Province.[14]
Results
| Party | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Republican People's Party | 17,391,548 | 37.77 | |
| Justice and Development Party | 16,339,771 | 35.49 | |
| New Welfare Party | 2,851,784 | 6.19 | |
| Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party | 2,625,588 | 5.70 | |
| Nationalist Movement Party | 2,297,662 | 4.99 | |
| Good Party | 1,735,924 | 3.77 | |
| Victory Party | 800,905 | 1.74 | |
| Felicity Party | 503,210 | 1.09 | |
| Free Cause Party | 253,648 | 0.55 | |
| Great Unity Party | 200,301 | 0.44 | |
| Democracy and Progress Party | 150,600 | 0.33 | |
| Independent Turkey Party | 113,043 | 0.25 | |
| Democrat Party | 92,166 | 0.20 | |
| Homeland Party | 78,289 | 0.17 | |
| Workers' Party of Turkey | 71,108 | 0.15 | |
| Communist Party of Turkey | 51,303 | 0.11 | |
| Democratic Left Party | 48,516 | 0.11 | |
| Patriotic Party | 43,240 | 0.09 | |
| New Turkey Party | 42,646 | 0.09 | |
| Nation Party | 38,578 | 0.08 | |
| Future Party | 34,212 | 0.07 | |
| Rights and Freedoms Party | 31,633 | 0.07 | |
| Labour Party | 29,985 | 0.07 | |
| Left Party | 22,810 | 0.05 | |
| Motherland Party | 17,739 | 0.04 | |
| Communist Movement of Turkey | 17,406 | 0.04 | |
| Justice Union Party | 15,790 | 0.03 | |
| National Path Party | 15,705 | 0.03 | |
| People's Liberation Party | 8,654 | 0.02 | |
| Anatolia Union Party | 6,139 | 0.01 | |
| True Path Party | 3,921 | 0.01 | |
| Hearth Party | 2,401 | 0.01 | |
| Enlightened Democracy Party | 287 | 0.00 | |
| Independents | 108,144 | 0.23 | |
| Total | 46,044,656 | 100.00 | |
| Valid votes | 46,044,656 | 95.42 | |
| Invalid/blank votes | 2,210,042 | 4.58 | |
| Total votes | 48,254,698 | 100.00 | |
| Registered voters/turnout | 61,430,934 | 78.55 | |
| Source: Sözcü, Hürriyet, Anadolu Agency | |||
Map
Changes in control
The list below shows the parties governing the capitals of the 81 provinces before and after the local elections. Provinces in bold denote metropolitan municipalities.
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Key races
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Full list
Note: AK Party is abbreviated "AKP" and Yeniden Refah is abbreviated "YRP" here for visualisation purposes. Metropolitan municipalities are in bold.
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Reactions
President Erdoğan acknowledged the AKP's electoral losses but said that it would mark "not an end for us but rather a turning point", adding that he would respect the result, "correct our mistakes and redress our shortcomings". The CHP’s Özgür Özel praised voters, saying that they had established a "new political order" in Turkey leading to "a new political climate".[17][14] İYİ leader Meral Akşener called for an extraordinary party congress amid demands for her resignation.[18]
Analysis
This was the first election since the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP)'s establishment in 2001 that it did not come first in a national election, with the CHP winning 37.8% of the vote compared to the AKP's 35.5%. It was the first nationwide election since 1977 in which the CHP came first. Commentators compared the vote to the 1989 local election, where the centre-left opposition at the time had scored significant victories against long-standing right-wing governments and came first in the popular vote. Nevertheless, the People's Alliance did score some victories against the opposition, taking the traditionally opposition-leaning mayoralties of Hatay and Kırklareli, and narrowly won a plurality of district municipalities.[3]
The smaller centre-right opposition İYİ Party performed poorly across the country, coming sixth in terms of popular vote and losing over half its vote share. Its leader, Meral Akşener, called an extraordinary party congress but did not announce whether she would run again for the leadership. Meanwhile, the Islamist conservative New Welfare Party (YRP) came third with over 6% of the vote, winning many municipalities in conservative areas from the AKP. The pro-Kurdish DEM Party marginally improved their share of the vote, despite some calls for boycotts in their traditional strongholds due to the likelihood of mayors being forcibly removed from office by the Interior Ministry on charges of supporting separatist terrorism. The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the AKP's junior alliance partner, lost votes but retained control of many key municipalities that it had won in the previous election.[3]
Described as an "electoral disaster" for President Erdoğan, commentators speculated that any intention by the government to amend the constitution to extend his presidential term would likely be put on hold.[2] Given the scale of their victories, both İmamoğlu and Yavaş are widely seen as possible opposition candidates for the 2028 Turkish presidential election,[19] which the government refused to bring forward in light of the results despite speculation over early elections.[20]
Canceled annulment
On 2 April, authorities annulled the victory of DEM’s Abdullah Zeydan, who won more than 55% of the vote in the mayoral election in Van and declared his rival, Abdullah Arvas from the AKP, the winner despite garnering only 27% of the vote.[21] The decision led to anti-government protests in Van and Istanbul, as well as a rally in Ankara.[22] The CHP sent members to Van in support.[23] Tuncer Bakırhan of the DEM called the reversal a "political coup"[22] while the party referred to it as "unlawful and illegitimate".[24] The following day, the Supreme Election Board heard Zeydan's appeal and reinstated him as the winner.[25]
Notes
- ^ The total number of metropolitan mayoralties (in the 30 metropolitan provinces) plus the provincial capital mayoralties (in the remaining 51 provinces) won by each party.
- ^ a b Calculated using votes for the mayors in metropolitan provinces and votes for the provincial councils in other provinces.
- ^ as HDP
- ^ a b In accordance with the collective leadership principle, the most authoritative decision-making body is the Central Committee elected at the party congress.
- ^ as HDP
References
- ^ Alper Coşkun (1 June 2023). "Erdoğan's Next Fight". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
- ^ a b "Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suffers an electoral disaster". The Economist. Archived from the original on 1 April 2024. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
- ^ a b c "Seçim 2024". Anadolu Agency. Archived from the original on 14 May 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ https://www.bta.bg/en/news/balkans/649633-meral-aksener-gives-up-good-party-leadership-following-defeat-in-local-elections
- ^ "Turgut Altınok: AKP'nin Keçiören'le özdeşleşen, 'A takımı' iddiaları ve Melih Gökçek'le tartışmalarıyla bilinen Ankara Büyükşehir Belediye Başkan Adayı". BBC News Türkçe (in Turkish). 18 January 2024. Archived from the original on 30 January 2024. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
- ^ "Akşener: İttifak sistemini reddediyoruz". DHA | Demirören Haber Ajansı (in Turkish). 18 September 2023. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
- ^ "İYİ Parti, CHP'nin seçim işbirliği önerisini neden reddetti?". BBC News Türkçe (in Turkish). 4 December 2023. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
- ^ "YÜKSEK SEÇİM KURULU KARARI" (PDF). resmigazete.gov.tr. 2 January 2024. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 January 2024. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
- ^ "YSK Başkanı yerel seçime girebilecek partileri açıkladı". Yeniçağ Gazetesi (in Turkish). 2 January 2024. Archived from the original on 3 January 2024. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
- ^ "Yenilik Partisi yerel seçime katılmayacak". www.gazeteduvar.com.tr. 11 January 2024. Archived from the original on 23 January 2024. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
- ^ "Partilerin oy pusulasındaki yerleri belli oldu". BBC News Türkçe (in Turkish). 27 January 2024. Archived from the original on 27 January 2024. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
- ^ "Faaliyette Olan Siyasi Partiler" [Active political parties]. tr:Yargıtay Cumhuriyet Başsavcılığı (Türkiye) (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
- ^ "Türkiye Report 2023 - European Commission". neighbourhood-enlargement.ec.europa.eu. Archived from the original on 23 December 2023. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
Regarding political associations, the 8th Administrative Court of Ankara found unlawful the stance of the Ministry of Interior, which prevented the establishment of the Green Party by not providing a 'received' certificate for the application and decided to stay the execution of the process. The Court of Appeal has since removed the stay of execution decision regarding the Ministry of Interior's act, the Green Party is again prevented from being established and the case is still pending. The file for the establishment of the Humanity and Freedom Party is pending before the Constitutional Court.
- ^ a b c "In setback to Turkey's Erdogan, opposition makes huge gains in local election". Associated Press. 1 April 2024. Archived from the original on 1 April 2024. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
- ^ "17 people detained after attack at Istanbul election campaign event, official says". Associated Press. 11 February 2024. Archived from the original on 11 February 2024. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ "Turkish police detain 33 people accused of plotting attacks ahead of local elections, official says". Associated Press. 10 March 2024. Archived from the original on 10 March 2024. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ "Turkish local elections: Opposition stuns Erdogan with historic victory". BBC. 1 April 2024. Archived from the original on 1 April 2024. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
- ^ "Ağır hezimet sonrası Meral Akşener'den kongre kararı". Sozcu.com.tr (in Turkish). 1 April 2024. Archived from the original on 2 April 2024. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ "Erdogan Nemesis Emerges as Top Rival After Istanbul Win". Bloomberg. April 2024. Archived from the original on 1 April 2024. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
- ^ "Erdoğan erken seçim kapısını kapattı: Önümüzde 4 yıl süre var..." ekonomim.com. 4 January 2024. Archived from the original on 1 April 2024. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
- ^ "Turkey replaces Kurdish mayor with government candidate two days after vote". Euractiv. 3 April 2024. Archived from the original on 3 April 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- ^ a b "Clashes After Turkey Annuls Pro-Kurdish Mayoral Candidate's Win". Barron's. 2 April 2024. Archived from the original on 2 April 2024. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ "Turkey denies newly elected pro-Kurdish mayor the right to hold office in country's east". Associated Press. 3 April 2024. Archived from the original on 3 April 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- ^ "DEM Parti'den mazbata açıklaması: Karar gayri meşrudur, Van'da darbe var". Gazete Duvar (in Turkish). 2 April 2024. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
- ^ "Turkey's top election authority restores newly elected pro-Kurdish mayor's right to hold office". Associated Press. 3 April 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
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