The elections were marred by allegations of electoral fraud[2][3][4] and violence, with both opposition and ruling party candidates alike refusing to recognise a wide variety of results.

[13][14] Regardless, the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) declared victory in the early hours of 31 March,[15] gaining 42.89% of the vote, 818 municipalities and 11,309 councillors.

The opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) came second with 26.34%, 232 municipalities and 4,320 councillors, announcing that it would be filing complaints against alleged electoral manipulation.

These most notably occurred in Yalova and Ağrı, in which the ruling AKP had lost by a small margin to the CHP and BDP respectively on March 30.

In a first of a series of trials relating to electoral fraud claims, a returning officer was sentenced to five years in prison in June 2015 after being found guilty of transferring CHP votes to the AKP.

[22] It was the first time that women were elected as mayors to metropolitan areas in Turkey, namely Gültan Kışanak to Diyarbakir, Fatma Sahin to Gaziantep and Özlem Çerçioğlu to Aydın.

[37][38] The controversy surrounding the police response resulted in Germany seeking to delay European Union accession talks with Turkey.

Prime Minister Erdoğan responded by either dismissing or reassigning thousands of police and judicial personnel while denying all allegations of wrongdoing.

[52][53] The government responded to the tape revelations by pushing through three controversial laws which would tighten the AKP's grip on the judiciary,[54] allow greater control over internet access,[55] and increase the powers of Turkey's intelligence services (MİT).

[citation needed] Regardless, the AKP's sizeable parliamentary majority led to all laws being passed by the Turkish Grand National Assembly.

[66] On 21 March 2014, Ankara's Attorney General issued a statement denying the government's claims that they had a court order validating the ban on Twitter.

[67][68][69] The ban's practical failure and its violation of internet freedoms received criticism, and the US House of Representatives was presented with two resolutions condemning[clarification needed] the Turkish government for blocking Twitter and YouTube.

[72][73] On 28 March 2014, the telecommunications regulator (TİB) made use of the government's new controversial internet law by blocking YouTube without court order.

[80] In December 2013, it emerged that several voters had been made members of different political parties without their approval in an attempt to bolster support without their consent.

[81] On 29 February 2014, a recording of a phone call between Ankara metropolitan mayor Melih Gökçek and the Prime Minister's secretary Mustafa Varank allegedly depicted both agreeing to censor the opposition CHP's election posters.

[85] The provisional results in Ankara, which initially showed a 0.9% lead for the AKP, were widely criticised by the opposition and caused a massive recounting campaign by the CHP.

[88] On 15 March 2014, Ankara's AKP mayor Melih Gökçek spoke on live television regarding the possible use of Chinese temporary tattoo pens whilst recording the results from each ballot box.

"[89] On 29 March 2014, the police received a tip-off that large numbers of fake ballot papers were being stored at a printing press in the district of Gaziemir in İzmir.

[104] Large-scale election rallies dominated the pre-election political scene, mostly being held by the governing AKP and the main opposition CHP.

It also reported that in Hatay rival families fought with clubs, knives and guns in support of their respective candidates resulting in two deaths and nine injuries.

Provisional results in several districts were contested by all major parties, including the governing AKP, claiming misconduct during the counting process and thus demanding a recount.

[111][112] Turkey's Constitutional Court has rejected an individual application filed by Mansur Yavaş, the Republican People's Party's (CHP) candidate for mayor in Ankara.