Ruling AK Party taps into ministerial experience for mayoral candidates in Ankara and İzmir

At the AK Party’s weekly group meeting yesterday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan continued to announce mayoral candidates for the March 2019 local elections. Among the latest 20 names revealed, former ministers Mehmet Özhaseki and Nihat Zeybekci were nomi

THE RULING Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has nominated former Environment and Urban Planning Minister Mehmet Özhaseki as its mayoral candidate for the capital Ankara, while former Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci will vie for the mayor’s office in İzmir, a Republican People’s Party (CHP) stronghold. AK Party Chairman, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the nomination of the former ministers and 18 other candidates during his party’s group meeting in Parliament. The local elections are scheduled for March 31, 2019. The names included candidates for 10 metropolitan municipalities and 10 city municipalities. Along with Ankara and İzmir, the candidates for Afyonkarahisar, Balıkesir, Bingöl, Çanakkale, Çankırı, Çorum, Eskişehir, Hatay, Karaman, Konya, Mardin, Muş, Sakarya, Sivas, Tokat, Trabzon, Uşak and Yozgat provinces were also announced. Out of the 20 municipalities, 15 are being administered by mayors from the AK Party. Four – Çanakkale, Eskişehir, Hatay and İzmir – were won by the CHP in 2014 and Mardin was won by Ahmet Türk, an independent former deputy backed by the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), the regional affiliate of the pro-PKK Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). Türk was among the mayors removed from duty by the Interior Ministry in November 2016 for aiding the PKK terrorist group.