Turkiye's Opposition CHP Party Beats Ruling AKP in Local Elections

Turkiye's opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) is ahead of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in municipal elections for the first time in 20 years.

The CHP currently has 37.8% of the votes and is slightly ahead of the AKP, which has 36.8%. Pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) brings up the rear of the top three with just under 6% of the vote, while the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which is allied with the AKP, has less than 4%.

Established in 2001, the AKP has come first in every municipal election since 2004. 

The Nation Alliance, a coalition of six opposition parties running for the presidential and parliamentary elections in May 2023, was essentially dissolved after unsatisfactory voting results. In the current municipal elections, the CHP is flying solo.