Turkey elected its local officials who will serve for the next 5 years yesterday. The number of female mayors has increased across all 81 cities. According to final results, women will lead 11 cities, including 5 metropolitan cities.
Turkey elected its local officials who will serve for the next 5 years yesterday. The number of female mayors has increased across all 81 provinces. According to unofficial results, women will lead 11 cities, including 5 metropolitan cities.
Compared to the 2019 elections, there was a noticeable increase in female candidacy: of the total 15,159 mayoral candidates, 1,668, or 11%, were women, up from 8.1% out of over 8,200 candidates in 2019. That year, 33 women ran for metropolitan mayorships, with three elected, while 38 out of 634 female candidates won other municipal and district mayorships.
Across Turkey, female mayors were elected in 61 out of 922 districts. These districts were divided among the three parties as follows: the DEM Party won in 28 districts, Republican People’s Party (CHP) in 26 districts, and Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 7 districts.
Female mayors by cities
In Istanbul, with its 39 districts, female candidates from CHP have been elected to lead three districts. Ayşegül Özdemir Ovalıoğlu in Bakırköy, Sinem Dedetaş in Üsküdar, and Esin Köymen in Maltepe have all become the first female mayors of their respective districts.
In the local elections, CHP once again emerged victorious in Turkey’s third-largest city, İzmir. In İzmir, CHP led in 28 out of 30 districts, and female candidates were elected as mayors in 8 districts. These districts constitute 40% of the city’s population.
AKP
In the AKP, Fatma Şahin was elected as the party’s sole female mayor from Gaziantep.
CHP
In the CHP, 6 female candidates won the provincial mayor races. Candan Yüceer in Tekirdağ, Filiz Gencan Akın in Edirne, Burcu Köksal in Afyonkarahisar, Ayşe Ünlüce in Eskişehir, Melek Mızrak Subaşı in Bilecik, and Özlem Çerçioğlu, a CHP member, were elected as mayors.
DEM Party
From the DEM Party, Ayşe Serra Bucak Küçük became the Mayor of Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality, while Sofya Alağaş in Siirt, Gülistan Sönük in Batman, and Hazal Aras in Ağrı will serve as the female mayors leading these cities.