The People’s Alliance, comprising the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), triumphed in five of the six newly established towns that held local elections on June 7, while the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) secured victory in one.
More than 10,000 voters went to the polls on June 7 to elect mayors and municipal council members in six settlements that attained township status following the last local elections.
Meanwhile, residents in more than 360 neighborhoods across the country also voted to elect new village and neighborhood heads in by-elections.
The AKP and MHP fielded joint candidates under the People’s Alliance banner in the elections.
In the northern province of Tokat, AKP candidates Mustafa Karadağ and Mustafa Altın were elected mayors of Bağtaşı and Yolüstü, respectively, while MHP candidate Hikmet Temizel won the mayoral race in Kuşçu. In Çevrecik, CHP candidate Nazım Demirkol emerged victorious.
In the neighboring province of Gümüşhane, AKP candidate Kemalettin Aydın won the election in Tekke. In Mustafapaşa, a historic settlement in the central province of Nevşehir, AKP candidate Mustafa Özer was elected mayor with 876 votes.
Following the announcement of the results, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who also serves as AKP chairman, declared that the elections ended with the AKP and the People’s Alliance achieving an “overwhelming victory.”
He also congratulated the newly elected mayors and municipal council members.
Türkiye last held nationwide local elections in March 2024. In those polls, the CHP emerged as the largest party for the first time since the 1977 local elections, securing 37.81 percent of the vote. The party won 14 metropolitan municipalities, including the capital Ankara and the country’s largest city, Istanbul.
The AKP received 35.48 percent of the vote and finished local elections as the second-largest party nationwide.
