Mayoral elections were held in the Turkish province of

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

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 local election as the candidate of the Nation Alliance, an opposition all ...

was elected with 50% of the vote, compared to the government candidate

Mehmet Özhaseki Mehmet Özhaseki, (born 25 May 1957, Kayseri, Turkey) is a Turkish politician of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and former Minister of Environment and Urban Planning. He is a former Mayor of Kayseri. Early life and education Me ...

's 47%. Although the AKP 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

, the former mayor of

Kayseri Kayseri (; el, Καισάρεια) is a large industrialised city in Central Anatolia, Turkey, and the capital of Kayseri province. The Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality area is composed of five districts: the two central districts of Kocasina ...

and former Minister of Environment and Urban Planning. Due to the People's Alliance agreement, Özhaseki has the support of the

Nationalist Movement Party The Nationalist Movement Party (alternatively translated as Nationalist Action Party; tr, Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP) is a Turkish far-right and ultranationalist political party. The group is often described as neo-fascist, and has bee ...

(MHP). On 18 December, the main opposition

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party ( tr, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, , acronymized as CHP ) is a Kemalist and social-democratic political party in Turkey which currently stands as the main opposition party. It is also the oldest political party i ...

(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: ''İyi Parti'') is a nationalist, national conservative, Kemalist, and liberal democrat political party in Turkey, established on 25 October 2017 by its current leader Meral Akşener. Their fraternal party is the liber ...

and declared himself to be the '

Nation Alliance Nation Alliance may refer to: * Nation Alliance (Egypt), Egyptian electoral alliance * Nation Alliance Party, former Canadian political party * Nation Alliance (Turkey) The Nation Alliance ( tr, Millet İttifakı), or simply Nation ( tr, M ...

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