This was the first nationwide election to be contested by the CHP's new leader Özgür Özel, who had successfully challenged his predecessor Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu for the position in November 2023.

The results were described as a "spectacular upset" victory for the opposition CHP,[2] which despite the lack of any electoral pacts managed to retain all but one of its metropolitan mayoralties, while winning four more.

In particular, the party's candidates in Turkey's largest city Istanbul and capital Ankara, Ekrem İmamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş, were re-elected by landslide 51% and 60%, respectively.

[citation needed] The CHP also won many unexpected victories in areas that had been under government control for the previous two decades, including Bursa, Balıkesir, Manisa, Kütahya, Adıyaman, Amasya, Kırıkkale, Kilis and Denizli.

Nevertheless, the AK Party retained a narrow plurality in the number of district mayoralties won, and the People's Alliance scored small but notable victories against the CHP in Hatay and Kırklareli.

[4] During the local elections of 2019, the opposition parties had formed alliances in key races, and had narrowly defeated the government in the two of the biggest cities in Turkey, namely Istanbul and Ankara.

[16] On 10 February, gunmen opened fire at a campaign event in the Küçükçekmece district municipality of Istanbul for AKP mayoral candidate Aziz Yeniay, critically injuring one person.

[17] On 10 March, 33 people suspected of involvement with Islamic State were arrested in police raids in Sakarya Province on suspicion of plotting attacks ahead of the election.

President Erdoğan acknowledged the AKP's electoral losses but said that it would mark "not an end for us but rather a turning point", adding that he would respect the result, "correct our mistakes and redress our shortcomings".

Nevertheless, the People's Alliance did score some victories against the opposition, taking the traditionally opposition-leaning mayoralties of Hatay and Kırklareli, and narrowly won a plurality of district municipalities.

The pro-Kurdish DEM Party marginally improved their share of the vote, despite some calls for boycotts in their traditional strongholds due to the likelihood of mayors being forcibly removed from office by the Interior Ministry on charges of supporting separatist terrorism.

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the AKP's junior alliance partner, lost votes but retained control of many key municipalities that it had won in the previous election.

[3] Described as an "electoral disaster" for President Erdoğan, commentators speculated that any intention by the government to amend the constitution to extend his presidential term would likely be put on hold.