Muğla, a Mediterranean gem on Türkiye’s southwestern tip, hosted President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday. The leader addressed an enthusiastic crowd of some 50,000 people who gathered to support him and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) ahead of municipal elections.

Flanked by a former Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmaker who is now running for a mayoral seat in the city for the AK Party, the president thanked supporters for their endorsement of the party in 2023 legislative and presidential elections, though he acknowledged lower support for the AK Party.

Erdoğan, who described himself as a "resident" of Muğla in reference to his occasional vacations in the city’s popular destination Marmaris, listed public services successive AK Party governments have introduced in the city, citing that the public investments in the past two decades that have amounted to TL 122 billion.

The president said although Muğla was a "metropolitan municipality," under the CHP administration, it remained "a huge village" in terms of services. Muğla has been run by CHP Mayor Osman Gürün, who has won every election since 1999. Gürün was not nominated for the March 31 municipal elections this time. The CHP nominated Ahmet Aras, the mayor of the popular Muğla district Bodrum, as the new candidate.

Erdoğan emphasized that the AK Party did not discriminate against voters, regardless of their background, and cited the improvement of lives of nomadic Yörük communities hailing from Muğla under the AK Party governments.

As he pointed out the government’s investments in the city, Erdoğan called on the residents to simply compare the condition of Muğla two decades ago to today. "People of Muğla used to leave the city for work elsewhere but now the city is becoming a gem of the region. Still, it is still not in a place it truly deserves. The biggest obstacle to achieving this is the current administration of Muğla," he said.

"They did everything to hinder our investments. Muğla is behind (neighboring) Antalya in terms of tourism and agriculture and this is because of this mindset hindering our investments," he said.

The municipal elections are a significant test for the government and the opposition. Thirty-four political parties will vie for votes in 81 provinces.

Almost all parties unveiled their candidates for mayor and municipal assembly seats, but the Supreme Election Board (YSK) declared the final list on Sunday. A campaign ban will come into force on March 21.

More than 61 million people are eligible to vote, and 1 million young voters will cast their ballots for the first time in this election. More than 50% of the voters are women, while men make up 49.1% of the electorate, according to the statistics. More than 3.3 million of voters are aged 75 and above. Most of the electorate is in 30 big cities, while more than 13.5 million voters will cast their ballots in 51 other cities.

Voters in opposition-run municipalities mostly complain about the lack of municipal services, such as problems in water utilities that lead to frequent water outages and traffic issues stemming from troubles in road construction and improvement of existing roads.