Approval ratings for Turkey's mayors from main opposition CHP climb in first year in office

A recent survey revealed increases in the approval ratings of the 11 mayors from main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) who won metropolitan cities in the local elections of March 31. Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş experienced the largest spike in his approval ratings, while Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu had the third largest increase in his vote share.

Duvar English

A little over a year after their election in 2019, all mayors who were elected from main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) have seen increases in their approval ratings, a survey by private poller Avrasya Research revealed.

Considered a major loss for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the local elections of March 31, 2019 saw wins by CHP candidates in 11 metropolitan cities.

Of course, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu's Istanbul win had been cancelled, leading to re-elections June 23, 2019.

Avrasya Research asked survey participants who they would vote for if the local elections of March 2019 were to take place today.

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Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş saw the largest increase in his approval ratings among the 11 mayors with 8.04 percent, bringing him to 58.97 percent of votes, up from 50.93 percent in 2019.

Mansur Yavaş

Mayor Muhittin Böcek of the Mediterranean province of Antalya saw the second highest spike in approval ratings with 7.05 percent. Böcek collected 57.67 percent of votes in the survey, up from 50.62 percent in 2019.

Muhittin Böcek

The third highest increase in approval ratings was Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu's with 7.01 percent.

İmamoğlu had received 48.8 percent of votes March 31, 2019. In the second round of elections in 2019, İmamoğlu beat his AKP opponent with 54,22 percent of votes.

İmamoğlu collected 55.82 percent of votes in the Avrasya survey.

Adana Mayor Zeydan Karalar followed İmamoğlu with a 5.17 percent increase in approval ratings, receiving 58.8 percent of participants' votes, up from 53.63 percent in 2019.

Zeydan Karalar

Mayor of the Mediterranean city of Aydın, Özlem Çerçioğlu is the only woman mayor from CHP to win a metropolitan city municipality in March 2019.

Following Karalar, Çerçioğlu saw a spike of 5.01 percent in her approval ratings, putting her at 58.95 percent of votes.

Özlem Çerçioğlu

Mayor of the western city of Izmir, Tunç Soyer saw the sixth largest increase in approval ratings with 4.1 percent. Soyer received 62.2 percent of participants' votes, up from 58.1 percent in 2019.

Tunç Soyer (middle) collects trash with citizens.

Mayor of southern Mersin, Vahap Seçer saw an increase of 4.01 percent in his vote share, reaching 49.1 percent of voted.

Thracian Tekirdağ Mayir Kadir Albayrak saw an increase of 3.82 in his share of votes, up from 51.18 in March 2019.

Mayor of the university town Eskişehir, Yılmaz Büyükerşen had an increase of 3.6 percent in his vote share, reaching 55.9 percent.

Osman Gürün

Mayor of western Muğla, Osman Gürün had an increase of 3.5 percent in his approval ratings, putting him at 39.51 percent.

Lastly, mayor of southern Hatay Lütfü Savaş had a 3.39 percent increase in votes, reaching 58.55 percent.

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