Candidates from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling alliance won five of six mayoral races in interim local elections held Sunday in newly designated towns across Turkey, while the main opposition party secured one municipality, the DHA news agency reported.
Voters went to the polls in six settlements that recently gained town status, including four in the northern province of Tokat and one each in Gümüşhane and Nevşehir, to elect mayors and city council members.
According to unofficial results, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) won four of the five towns where it fielded candidates, while its far-right ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), won in Kuşçu, a town in Tokat where the AKP did not nominate a candidate.
The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) won the mayoral race in Çevrecik, another town in Tokat.
Ali İhsan Yavuz, deputy chairman of the AKP responsible for election affairs, said in a statement on social media that the results showed “very clearly that our nation’s favor toward our party continues to increase.”
Bugün 6 beldede yapılan ara seçimlerde;
● Partimizin aday gösterdiği 5 beldenin 4'ünü AK PARTİ kazandı (Tokat Almus Bağtaşı, Tokat Reşadiye Yolüstü, Nevşehir Ürgüp Mustafapaşa, Gümüşhane Merkez Tekke).
● Tokat Yeşilyurt Kuşçu beldesinde bizim de desteklediğimiz Cumhur İttifakı/…— Ali İhsan YAVUZ (@aliihsanyavuz54) June 7, 2026
Erdoğan also welcomed the results, saying the local races had ended with the “overwhelming superiority” of the AKP and the People’s Alliance, formed with the MHP.
Tokat, Nevşehir ve Gümüşhane’deki 6 beldemiz ile ülkemizin farklı bölgelerindeki 362 mahallede yapılan mahallî idareler ara seçimlerinin ülkemiz ve milletimiz için hayırlara vesile olmasını diliyorum.
AK Parti’mizin ve Cumhur İttifakımızın ezici üstünlüğüyle sonuçlanan belde…
— Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RTErdogan) June 7, 2026
Supreme Election Council (YSK) Chairman Serdar Mutta said the elections were completed “without any problems,” adding that 371,870 voters were eligible to cast ballots in the local votes, which also included mukhtar elections in 355 neighborhoods across the country.
The YSK decided in April to hold the interim elections after the six settlements gained town status.
Buca mayor removed from office after arrest
The local elections came amid a growing crackdown on CHP-run municipalities following the party’s nationwide victory over the AKP in the March 2024 local elections.
Turkey’s Interior Ministry on Monday removed CHP’s Buca Mayor Görkem Duman from office as a temporary measure after he was arrested in a corruption investigation targeting the municipality and its affiliated companies.
The ministry said the decision was taken because Duman had been arrested on charges of “establishing an organization for the purpose of committing a crime,” that of bribery and embezzlement.
Duman was among 42 people arrested on June 6 after 54 suspects were referred to court as part of an investigation launched by the İzmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office into allegations of bribery and extortion.
Former Buca Mayor Erhan Kılıç and former CHP Buca district chairman Çağdaş Kaya were also among those arrested, while 12 people were released under judicial supervision.
Prosecutors had issued detention warrants for about 60 people in the investigation, which targets the Buca Municipality, municipal companies, employees, contractors and company owners. The allegations include bribery in building permit and occupancy procedures, irregularities in direct purchases and public tenders and the alleged use of municipal resources for personal expenses.
Duman’s arrest followed similar operations targeting CHP-run municipalities in İzmir. In February, 26 people were detained in an operation targeting the Buca Municipality, seven of whom were later arrested. In May, Güzelbahçe Mayor Mustafa Günay was arrested and removed from office.
Since the 2024 local elections, more than 20 mayors elected from the CHP have been jailed during investigations targeting opposition municipalities. The crackdown began with the arrest of the CHP mayor of İstanbul’s Esenyurt district in October 2024 and later expanded to the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality and municipalities in other provinces.
İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, widely seen as Erdoğan’s strongest political rival, has been jailed since March 2025 in a corruption case that he and the CHP say is politically motivated.
The pressure on the party has also deepened through court rulings affecting its leadership. A regional appeals court last month declared the CHP’s 2023 party congress null and void, temporarily removed Özgür Özel and his leadership from office and reinstated former chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, triggering a power struggle inside Turkey’s oldest political party.