The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) will accept applications for mayoral candidates in the first week of November for the upcoming March 2019 municipal elections.

A commission is expected to be established at the AK Party headquarters which will determine the candidates. The criteria for the determination of the candidates is also becoming clear. The party will reportedly determine candidates by taking into account their region. Reports of visits to the province and district, the views of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and opinion leaders, the views of the organization, face-to-face meetings and survey studies will be taken into consideration when choosing candidates.

The AK Party plans to launch its election campaign in the first week of January, taking into account the election calendar of the Supreme Board of Elections (YSK). The campaign will start with a local election manifesto in which the AK Party's new definition of municipality will be emphasized. The party is expected to develop separate discourses for each provinces in the local elections.

Until the first week of February, the AK Party will continue to choose candidates for mayor and municipal council members. Mayor candidates and municipal councilors are expected to be introduced by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a meeting to be held in February.

The AK Party won 18 out of 30 metropolitan municipalities in the 2014 elections with 60 percent of the votes.