The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) kicks off preparations for the upcoming local elections, conducting public surveys to see people's demands and expectations, which also revealed that public support for the alliance with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) increases every day, reaching 56 percent.

The AK Party has started preparations for the local elections that will be held on 2019, which is quite important since it will be followed by the presidential and parliamentary elections and is likely to reflect on them. That is why the AK Party already started to conduct surveys in some cities to determine the candidates and demands of the public. The party aims to sound out the public via questions like who would you like to see as the mayor of the city or which services of the current mayorship that you are most pleased with.

The survey also touches on the alliance the party formed with the MHP. According to sources close to the party, public support for the alliance increases each day and is expected to increase even more as the election date approaches. KONDA's latest survey states that 56 percent of the public supports the alliance.

The AK Party and the MHP recently brought their efforts to form an alliance to a legal basis after a 26-article bill was submitted to Parliament.

The two parties are expected to join together in the 2019 general and presidential elections. However, it remains unknown how many or whether other parties will be in the alliance as well.

As the elections are approaching, the AK Party has started to make fundamental changes in its organizational structure to develop and sustain a more effective, stronger political campaign in the elections under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who returned as party leader last May.

President Erdoğan's emphasis on "metal fatigue" increased the possibility of a comprehensive change that was soon put into practice. Thus, the party started to hold rural and district congresses on July 3. The second step was to hold provincial congresses, continuing until Feb. 25. The next step will be the AK Party's 6th Ordinary Congress in September. Therefore, reforming its organizational structure became one of the distinctive moves in the process of elections for the AK Party.