Mayoral elections were held in the Turkish province of

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

as part of nationwide local elections on 31 March 2019. A total of 26 mayors, one for each of the 25

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

of Ankara and one for the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, were elected. Initial results suggested that opposition candidate

Mansur Yavaş Mansur Yavaş (; born 23 May 1955) is a Turkish lawyer and politician who is currently the Mayor of Ankara, holding the office since April 2019. He was elected in the 2019 Ankara mayoral election as the candidate of the Nation Alliance (Turkey), ...

was elected with 50% of the vote, compared to the government candidate Mehmet Özhaseki's 47%. Although the AK Party challenged the results and forced recounts in several districts, they were unable to overturn Yavaş's majority. Yavaş's victory was confirmed on 8 April 2019, when he was officially inaugurated mayor.

Candidates

On 27 November 2018, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) announced their metropolitan mayoral candidate to be Mehmet Özhaseki, the former mayor of

Kayseri Kayseri () is a large List of cities in Turkey, city in Central Anatolia, Turkey, and the capital of Kayseri Province, Kayseri province. Historically known as Caesarea (Mazaca), Caesarea, it has been the historical capital of Cappadocia since anc ...

and former Minister of Environment and Urban Planning. Due to the

People's Alliance People's Alliance may refer to: * People's Alliance ( ''Volksunie''), Belgian political party which split in 2001 into the Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie and Spirit * People's Alliance (Bulgaria), a Bulgarian party from 1921 to 1923 * People's Alliance ( ...

agreement, Özhaseki has the support of the

Nationalist Movement Party The Nationalist Movement Party, or alternatively translated as Nationalist Action Party (, MHP), is a Turkish Far-right politics, far-right, ultranationalism, ultranationalist Political parties in Turkey, political party. The group is often de ...

(MHP). On 18 December, the main opposition

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party (RPP; , CHP ) is a Kemalism, Kemalist and Social democracy, social democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, founded by Mustafa Kemal ...

(CHP) announced their candidate to be

, their candidate in the previous election in 2014. Yavaş had narrowly lost the previous election to AKP candidate

Melih Gökçek İbrahim Melih Gökçek (; born 20 October 1948) is a Turkish politician who served as the mayor of Ankara from 1994 to 2017. From 1991 to 1994, he was an MP. Gökçek has won municipal elections in 1994, 1999, 2004, 2009, and was controversial ...

despite accusations of widespread electoral fraud, with many commentators arguing that Yavaş was the true winner of the election. Yavaş has the support of the

Good Party The Good Party (Turkish language, Turkish: ''İYİ Parti'') is a Turkish nationalism, nationalist, Kemalism, Kemalist and Conservatism, conservative List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, established on 25 October 2017 b ...

Candidates

Opinion polling

Results

Metropolitan municipality mayoral election

Overall result

Results by district

District municipality mayoral elections

Akyurt

Altındağ

Ayaş

Bala

Beypazarı

Çamlıdere

Çankaya

Çubuk

Elmadağ

Etimesgut

Evren

Gölbaşı

Güdül

Haymana

Kahramankazan

Kalecik

Keçiören

Kızılcahamam

Mamak

Nallıhan

Polatlı

Pursaklar

Sincan

Şereflikoçhisar

Yenimahalle

References