The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) will implement exclusive plans and projects in some provinces for the March 2019 local elections where it lost by a small margin, a media report said.
As part of the new program for the March 2019 local elections, implementation and consultation teams were established within the AK Party for Yalova, Eskişehir, Tekirdağ, Zonguldak, Burdur, Manisa and Edirne provinces. Sabah daily reported that the AK Party is preparing for local elections around the clock. The AK Party, which primarily seeks to win in 30 big provinces, will implement a special strategy in the cities where the elections were lost by a small margin, developing an exclusive plan for each province. The AK Party performed well in local elections in 2004, 2009 and 2014 when it secured 18 out of 30 mayoral seats in the larger cities.
The AK Party has already been focusing on diminishing deficiencies to make up for the lost votes in the June 24 elections. Within this framework, the party gathered earlier this month at an exploratory camp. Furthermore, the AK Party had requested detailed reports on the June 24 process from all of its organizations, deputies and deputy candidates. Approximately 2,000 reports were submitted, and the final analysis of these reports was handed to the party's chairman, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The AK Party experienced a 7 percent drop in the ballots, costing them the majority in Parliament. In this context, the results from every electoral district will be analyzed to create individual road maps designed to address each district's expectations. In the parliamentary polls, the People's Alliance, including the AK Party and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), won 52.6 percent of the vote. The Nation Alliance, including the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), newly formed right-wing Good Party (IP) and conservative Felicity Party (SP), got 33.9 percent.
The party recently went through a rejuvenation process at the ordinary convention on Aug. 18. The AK Party's new 50-member Central Decision and Executive Board (MKYK) included 29 new names. Also, nine new names were included in the new Central Executive Board (MYK).
Speaking at the convention, Erdoğan gave strong messages stressing that the AK Party's efforts to carry Turkey forward will continue with the 2023 and 2071 visions.