The strategic voting and the refraining from fielding candidates by the HDP in contested areas like Ankara, and Istanbul allowed the opposition parties to gain a majority in these cities, through cooperation.

Campaigning was described as distinctly negative and divisive, with the opposition criticizing the government for Turkey's economic downturn, misuse of public funds and corruption.

[1] Particular controversy surrounded the AK Party's allegations of financial fraud against the opposition's Ankara mayoral candidate Mansur Yavaş, which later turned out to have been made by an unverifiable source.

[2] The use of video footage of the Christchurch terrorist attack by AK Party leader and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during his election rallies additionally received international condemnation and caused diplomatic relations between Turkey and New Zealand to sour.

The members of the Nation Alliance were initially beset with issues concerning candidate selection and inner-party divisions, stemming from their general election loss in June 2018.

However, both the CHP and the İYİ Party collectively managed to outperform expectations, securing 'shock' victories in Turkey's major metropolitan areas.

The Electoral Board also invalidated the successful election of by the approved candidates from the pro-Kurdish HDP and following awarded the mayorships to the AK Party.

Numerous recounts, electoral complaints, legal disputes, alleged corruption, accusations of terrorist involvement and police operations took place after the election, initiated mainly by the AK Party.

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) came second, winning control of İzmir, Turkey's third largest city.

With his re-election, he assumed widely expanded executive powers that were approved by voters in a highly controversial constitutional referendum in 2017.

[20] Following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt on 15 July 2016, over 90 mayors from the Kurdish Nationalist Democratic Regions Party (DBP), were removed from office by the Interior Ministry and were temporarily replaced by government-appointed trustees.

[32] On 27 October, Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek resigned after weeks of unsuccessful negotiations with Erdoğan to retain his office.

[33] On 30 October, Balıkesir Mayor Edip Uğur also resigned after initially refusing to heed to the party executive's pressure.

His resignation was seen as non-related to the 'metal fatigue' regeneration drive but due to personal disagreements with high-ranking party official and deputy leader Numan Kurtulmuş, who is an MP for Ordu.

[38] On 13 November 2018, Mayor Gökhan Demirtaş of Gülüç, a small town in the Ereğli district of Zonguldak, resigned from CHP and joined AK Party.

Despite initial mixed signals, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli announced in September 2018 that he intended to support AK Party candidates in key races and continue the alliance into the local election.

[41] After a series of disagreements with the AK Party, particularly in relation to the reinsertion of the Student Oath, the MHP announced that it would be contesting the elections alone.

[43] However, a month later after a meeting between the two leaders, the Alliance was declared to have resumed, with the MHP subsequently pullana its candidates in favour of the AK Party in numerous provinces, such as Ankara and Istanbul.

The alliance was finalised on 12 December, with the İyi Party agreeing to not field mayoral candidates in Aydın, Muğla, Tekirdağ, Hatay, İzmir, Eskişehir, Ankara, Istanbul, Antalya, Bursa or Adana.

[51] The 2014 election marked the first time a ballot official was sentenced to prison for electoral fraud, having been caught transferring opposition votes to the ruling AK Party candidate.

[52] The preliminary electoral roll was published in January 2018 to allow voters to check their polling districts and make any changes during a 'complaint period'.

[56] In an effort to identify fake voters in other parts of the country, the local CHP offices in Balçova, İzmir announced the formation of a team of 200 people to raise awareness and locate electoral roll fraud.

[8] The Provincial Electoral Council has not ratified the mayoral candidacy of Burhanettin Kocamaz, who is running for the southern province of Mersin's metropolitan municipality on the İYİ Party's ticket.

But the candidacy document of Mr. Burhanettin Kocamaz, our candidate for Mersin Metropolitan Municipality, was not accepted by the election board on grounds that it was submitted after 5 p.m." said İYİ Party in a written statement on 19 February.

[60] In February 2019, after many democratic countries raised concerns about China's cultural genocide against Muslims for years, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemns the systematic assimilation, arbitrary arrests, cruel torture, political brainwashing in internment camps and prisons of more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslim communities by China and called on to end the human tragedy.

Large pan-Turkic solidarity nationalism rallies to protest AK Party's inaction over the oppressive crackdown to Uyghurs mounts pressure ahead of the elections.

[66] Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison condemned the "reckless" and "highly offensive" comments made by Erdoğan.

The head of the observer mission from the Council of Europe's Congress of Local and Regional Authorities stated that they were "not fully convinced that Turkey currently has the free and fair electoral environment which is necessary for genuinely democratic elections in line with European values and principles".

Where a decisive victor could not be established due to small margins of victory and numerous formal complaints about misconduct, the Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) annulled the elections and ordered re-runs.

The results showed a substantial swing in favour of İmamoğlu, who increased his margin of victory to win 54.21% of the vote against Yıldırım's 44.99%.