People's Alliance (Turkey) in the context of "June 2019 Istanbul mayoral election"

The Justice and Development Party (Turkish: Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi [adaːˈlet ve kaɫkɯnˈma paɾtiˈsi], AK PARTİ), abbreviated officially as AK Party in English, is a political party in Turkey self-describing as conservative-democratic. It has been the ruling party of Turkey since 2002. Third-party sources often refer to the party as national conservative, social conservative, right-wing populist and as espousing neo-Ottomanism. The party is generally regarded as being right-wing on the political spectrum, although some sources have described it as far-right since 2011. It is currently the largest party in Grand National Assembly with 272 MPs, ahead of the main opposition social democratic Republican People's Party (CHP).

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been chairman of the AK Party since the 2017 Party Congress. The AK Party is the largest party in the Grand National Assembly, the Turkish national legislature, with 268 out of 600 seats, having won 35.6% of votes in the 2023 Turkish parliamentary election. It forms the People's Alliance with the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). The current parliamentary leader of the AK Party is Abdullah Güler.

Parliamentary elections were held in Turkey on 14 May 2023, alongside presidential elections, to elect all 600 members of the Grand National Assembly. The incoming members formed the 28th Parliament of Turkey. The elections had originally been scheduled to take place on June 18, but the government moved them forward by a month to avoid coinciding with the university exams, the Hajj pilgrimage and the start of the summer holidays. Prior to the election, the electoral threshold for a party to enter parliament was lowered from 10% to 7% by the ruling party.

The elections were contested by a total of 24 political parties. Some parties decided to participate in the elections as part of an electoral alliance, many of which were formed for the previous 2018 election and had been expanded since. The governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) of incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan lead the People's Alliance, which also included the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the Great Union Party (BBP) and the New Welfare Party (YRP). The largest opposition alliance was headed by the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and included five other parties. These included the Good Party (İYİ), the Felicity Party (SP), the Democrat Party (DP) and two other parties headed by former senior AKP politicians, namely the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) of former economy minister Ali Babacan and the Future Party (GP) of former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) opted to run on the lists of the Party of Greens and the Left Future (YSGP) in light of a potential closure case. The YSGP itself headed the left-wing Labour and Freedom Alliance along with the Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP). Two smaller alliances, the Ancestral Alliance of presidential candidate Sinan Oğan and the Union of Socialist Forces, also participated in the elections for the first time.

Presidential elections were held in Turkey in May 2023, alongside parliamentary elections, to elect a president for a term of five years. Dubbed the most important election of 2023, the presidential election went to a run-off for the first time in Turkish history. The election had originally been scheduled to take place on 18 June, but the government moved them forward by a month to avoid coinciding with the university exams, the Hajj pilgrimage and the start of the summer holidays. It is estimated that a total of 64 million voters had the right to cast their votes in elections, 60.9 million in Turkey and 3.2 million abroad.

Incumbent president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) ran for re-election as the joint candidate of the People's Alliance, which includes the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and two other smaller parties. The Nation Alliance, composed of six opposition parties including the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), fielded CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as its presidential candidate. Though not part of the alliance, the pro-Kurdish Party of Greens and the Left Future (YSGP) and the Labour and Freedom Alliance (of which it is a member) endorsed Kılıçdaroğlu. Two other minor candidates, namely Homeland Party leader Muharrem İnce and anti-immigration ultranationalist Ancestral Alliance nominee Sinan Oğan, also reached the required 100,000 signatures to stand; however, three days before the election, İnce withdrew from the election citing consistent slander and smear campaigns against him by rival candidates, though he still appeared on ballots.

Sinan Oğan (born 14 March 1969) is a Turkish politician who won a seat in the Turkish parliament in 2011 with the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). He was the presidential candidate of ATA Alliance for the 2023 Turkish presidential election, which resulted in a second round. He finished in third place, therefore he was described as a potential kingmaker. He proceeded to support the People's Alliance candidate Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was subsequently elected president in the second round of the election.

The Nation Alliance (Turkish: Millet İttifakı), abbreviated as NATION (Turkish: MİLLET), was an electoral and political alliance in Turkey, made up of six opposition parties to contest the 2023 Turkish general election against its main rival, the People's Alliance. Originally established prior to the country's 2018 general election, the alliance had consisted of four opposition parties across the political spectrum, which had found common ground on withstanding Turkey's newly established presidential system. The alliance dissolved in 1 June 2023 following its narrow defeat in the 2023 elections, after the Good Party's announcement that they were no longer a part of it.

Although Nation had become inactive as a bloc following their defeat in 2018; the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Good Party (İYİ) restored the alliance for the 2019 local elections, which delivered the opposition their first major electoral successes in years. The alliance enlarged, welcoming two breakaway parties from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP); namely the Future Party (GP) and Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA). Shortly after the enlargement, Nation Alliance announced its prospective government platform, becoming the first political entity in Turkey to do so prior to an election.

The March 2019 Istanbul mayoral election took place on 31 March 2019, as part of the 2019 Turkish local elections. In addition to a mayor for the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, all 39 Istanbul districts elected their own individual mayors as well as district councillors.

Early results on election night showed that People's Alliance candidate Binali Yıldırım held a small lead over his Nation Alliance rival Ekrem İmamoğlu. However, as the lead narrowed and a blackout occurred over the reporting of new results, İmamoğlu overtook Yıldırım according to the Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) on noon on 1 April. Both candidates declared victory, with banners showing Yıldırım's image and the message 'thank you Istanbul' appearing in numerous places overnight.

The Turkish local elections of 2019 were held on Sunday 31 March 2019 throughout the 81 provinces of Turkey. A total of 30 metropolitan and 1,351 district municipal mayors, alongside 1,251 provincial and 20,500 municipal councillors were elected, in addition to numerous local non-partisan positions such as neighbourhood representatives (muhtars) and elderly people's councils.

The governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) contested the elections in many provinces under a joint People's Alliance. Likewise, the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the İYİ Party entered some of the races under the Nation Alliance banner. The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) did not openly announce support for either alliance, but did not field candidates in some areas to improve the chances of opposition candidates. The strategic voting and the refraining from fielding candidates by the HDP in contested areas like Ankara, and Istanbul allowed the opposition parties to gain a majority in these cities, through cooperation.