Turkish President Erdoğan names 20 mayoral nominees including Ankara and İzmir candidates

ANKARA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced 20 more mayoral candidates ahead of the March 31 local elections, including nominees for Turkey’s capital Ankara and its third largest city, İzmir.

Speaking to the parliamentary group of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) he is leading, Erdoğan revealed on Nov. 27 the names of the candidates for the provinces of Ankara, İzmir, Afyonkarahisar, Balıkesir, Bingöl, Çanakkale, Çankırı, Çorum, Eskişehir, Hatay, Karaman, Konya, Mardin, Muş, Sakarya, Sivas, Tokat, Trabzon, Uşak, Yozgat.

AKP deputy chair Mehmet Özhaseki was nominated for the capital Ankara and Nihat Zeybekci, the deputy chair of the economy policies council of the Presidency, will run for İzmir.

The announcement came three days after Erdoğan unveiled the names of 40 mayoral candidates, including 14 metropolitan municipality and 26 provincial municipality candidates.

The local elections in 81 provinces and hundreds of districts in Turkey are scheduled to be held on March 31, 2019.

Erdoğan is expected to announce the remaining candidates of his party, including the mayoral nominee from Istanbul, following his official visit to South America.

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli endorsed the AKP’s candidates to run for mayor of the three largest provinces of Turkey, Istanbul, Ankara, and İzmir.

In this regard, the MHP will not nominate any candidate in these provinces. In return, the AKP will support MHP candidates where the nationalist party is popular, such as Adana, Mersin, Osmaniye, Manisa and Isparta provinces along with the Etimesgut and Alanya districts.