Turkey Elects Local Administrators: CHP Emerges Victorious in Local Elections

Turkey has elected its local administrators who will serve for the next five years. CHP emerged as the leading party in the elections for the first time in 47 years. AK Party, since its establishment in 2001, dropped to the position of the second party for the first time.

Looking at the vote percentages obtained by the parties nationwide, the Republican People's Party received 37.7%, AK Party received 35.5%, Yeniden Refah Party received 6.2%, Nationalist Movement Party received 5%, and İYİ Party received 3.8% of the votes.

CHP received votes from over 17 million people, while AK Party received votes from over 16 million people.

CHP won 14 metropolitan municipalities and 35 municipalities. AK Party led the election race in 24 provinces, including 12 metropolitan municipalities. MHP won in 8 provinces, DEM Party in 10 provinces (3 of which are metropolitan municipalities), Yeniden Refah Party in 2 provinces (1 of which is a metropolitan municipality), and İYİ Party won in 1 province.

Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir will continue to be governed by CHP-affiliated figures. Ekrem İmamoğlu won the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayorship with over 51% of the votes. His rival, the candidate from the People's Alliance, Murat Kurum, remained at 39.6%.

CHP also secured the majority in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Council. In the election for Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Council membership, CHP candidates received over 45% of the votes.

In the capital Ankara, Mansur Yavaş was re-elected as the Mayor of Ankara for the second time, receiving over 60% of the votes. The candidate of the People's Alliance, Turgut Altınok, remained at 31.8%. CHP also gained the majority in the Municipal Council in Ankara.

In CHP's stronghold Izmir, Cemil Tugay won the election. CHP's candidate Tugay received approximately 49% of the votes, while AK Party's candidate Hamza Dağ remained at 37%. Although CHP won the election in Izmir, its vote share decreased by 10% compared to the 2019 election.

There were notable results in certain provinces. The management of Bursa's municipality shifted from AK Party to CHP. CHP's candidate Mustafa Bozbey won the election with 47.6% of the votes.

Adıyaman and Afyonkarahisar will also be governed by CHP-affiliated figures. In Adıyaman, CHP's candidate Abdurrahman Tutdere won the election with 49.7% of the votes. In Afyonkarahisar, Burcu Köksal was elected as the Mayor with 50.7% of the votes.

Mehmet Kasım Gülpınar, the candidate of Yeniden Refah Party, was elected as the Mayor of Şanlıurfa with 38.9% of the votes.

YRP's candidate Kazım Arslan won the election in Yozgat with 36.3% of the votes.

The decrease in voter turnout is notable. Out of 61,430,000 registered voters, 47,714,000 cast their votes. The voter turnout was approximately 78.5%. Approximately 13.5 million voters did not go to the polls.

The voter turnout decreased in all 81 provinces. The province with the highest voter turnout was Manisa with 84.9%, while the lowest was Bingöl with 59.6%.