Over 100 opposition mayors have switched to Erdoğan’s party since 2024 election as 32 remain jailed

A total of 106 mayors elected from opposition parties in the 2024 local elections have since joined President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), while 32 mayors remain in pretrial detention, according to Gökhan Günaydın, deputy parliamentary group chair of the main opposition New (Yeni) Party.

Speaking at a press conference today in parliament, Günaydın accused the government of using legal pressure and political incentives to bring opposition mayors into the AKP in what he called a “carrot and stick approach.”

Forty-one mayors switched from the Islamist New Welfare (Yeniden Refah) Party, 36 from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), 11 from the nationalist Good (İYİ) Party and 18 from other political parties.

Additionally, AKP gained 11 municipalities in acting mayor elections by municipal councils following the detention of mayors. These included the Bursa Metropolitan Municipality, municipalities of İstanbul’s Gaziosmanpaşa, Bayrampaşa, Beykoz, Şile, Üsküdar, Adalar and Ataşehir districts, Derecik in Hakkari and Menderes in İzmir.

Most of the 32 mayors were detained in corruption investigations targeting municipalities run by the CHP, which emerged as the most popular party after the 2024 elections, surpassing the ruling party.

The crackdown began with the detention of Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was the mayor of İstanbul and declared by the CHP as their presidential candidate for the 2028 elections. İmamoğlu has been in jail since Mar 2025, facing hundreds of years in prison on corruption-related charges.

“Two and a half years ago, voters clearly chose mayors from parties other than the AKP, most of them from what was then the CHP and is now the New Party,” Günaydın said. “But by arresting those mayors and installing acting mayors, you have transferred these municipalities to the AKP.”

The New Party was founded in July by Özgür Özel after he was removed as the CHP leader by a court ruling in May. The court had concluded that the CHP’s 2023 leadership election, in which Özel was elected, was marred by irregularities including vote buying. It reinstated Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the party’s longtime former leader.

Following its foundation, 91 of the 135 CHP deputies joined the New Party, making it the main opposition party. While dozens of mayors also joined them, a significant portion of local administrations remained with the Kılıçdaroğlu leadership and some joined the AKP.

The CHP had won 420 of Turkey’s more than 1,400 municipalities, including 35 of the 81 provinces, in the 2024 vote.

(VK)