The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) announced Saturday its candidates for Istanbul’s metropolitan and district municipalities in the March 2019 local elections.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the AK Party’s much-awaited candidate for the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality as Parliament Speaker and former prime minister Binali Yıldırım.
Having served the country as the transport, maritime affairs and communications minister in the 58th, 59th, 60th, 61st, and 64th governments, Yıldırım became Turkey’s last prime minister in May 2016. With the constitutional changes approved in the April 16, 2017 referendum, which envisaged a new executive presidential system, it was decided that the prime ministerial post would be abolished. Turkey officially switched to a presidential system with the June 24 elections.
Here is a list of AK Party’s candidates for district municipalities in Istanbul:
- Adalar: Özlem Öztekin Vural
- Arnavutköy: Ahmet Haşim Baltacı
- Ataşehir: İsmail Erdem
- Avcılar: İbrahim Ulusoy
- Bağcılar: Lokman Çağrıcı
- Bahçelievler: Hakan Bahadır
- Bayrampaşa: Atila Aydıner
- Beykoz: Murat Aydın
- Beylikdüzü: Mustafa Necati Işık
- Beyoğlu: Haydar Ali Yıldız
- Büyükçekmece: Mevlüt uysal
- Çatalca: Mesut Üner
- Çekmeköy: Ahmet Poyraz
- Esenler: Mehmet Tevfik Göksu
- Esenyurt: Azmi Ekinci
- Eyüpsultan: Deniz Köken
- Fatih: Ergün Turan
- Gaziosmanpaşa: Hasan Tahsin Usta
- Güngören: Bünyamin Demir
- Kadıköy: Özgül Özkan Yavuz
- Kağıthane: Mevlüt Öztekin
- Kartal: Ebubekir Taşyürek
- Küçükçekmece: Temel Karadeniz
- Pendik: Ahmet Cin
- Sancaktepe: Şeyma Döğücü
- Sarıyer: Salih Bayraktar
- Sultanbeyli: Hüseyin Keskin
- Sultangazi: Abdurrahman Dursun
- Şile: İlhan Ocaklı
- Şişli: Nihal Yıldırım
- Tuzla: Şadi Yazıcı
- Ümraniye: İsmet Yıldırım
- Üsküdar: Hilmi Türkmen
- Zeytinburnu: Ömer Arısoy
In three Istanbul districts, Erdoğan said the AK Party would support the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP)’s candidates as part of their People’s Alliance.
- Beşiktaş: Serkan Topeli
- Maltepe: Ahmet Baykan
- Silivri: Volkan Yılmaz
The People’s Alliance between the MHP and the AK Party was formed ahead of the June 24 parliamentary and presidential elections. The alliance received a majority in Parliament, while their presidential candidate, the incumbent president, also won the election by 52.6 percent of the votes. As both parties consider the results of the June 24 elections as successful, they now seek to continue their alliance in the local elections.
Last month, Erdoğan announced 20 of the party’s mayoral candidates, including for major cities like Ankara and Izmir.
Former Environment and Urban Planning Minister Mehmet Özhaseki, who is a deputy from central Kayseri province and serves as AK Party vice chairman in charge of local administrations, has been nominated for capital Ankara.
The AK Party mayoral candidate for the western Izmir province, a traditional stronghold of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), is former economy minister and current Denizli deputy Nihat Zeybekci.
