Where did they go wrong: Where did the socialists win, and where did they lose?

According to unofficial results, the Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) won the elections in the Samandağ district of Hatay and the Hacıbektaş district of Nevşehir, while the Left Party (Sol Parti) won in the Hozat district of Tunceli and the town of Saratlı in the Gülağaç district of Aksaray.
Socialist parties failed to win mayoralties in many places where they entered the race with high expectations, most notably in Kadıköy and Defne.

The TKP, TİP, TKH, Left Party, EMEP, and HKP from the socialist left participated in the March 31 elections.
The unofficial results of the election are thought-provoking for socialists. Socialist parties entered the elections in a limited number of electoral districts. They were unable to achieve success outside of a few district and town municipalities. It was observed that their vote shares across the country were also quite low.

In the mayoral races;

Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP): 71 thousand 158 (0.15 percent)
Communist Party of Turkey (TKP): 51 thousand 327 (0.11 percent)
Labour Party (EMEP): 30 thousand 298 (0.06 percent)
Left Party (Sol Parti): 22 thousand 19 (0.05 percent)
Communist Movement of Turkey (TKH): 18 thousand 132 (0.03 percent)
People's Liberation Party (HKP): 8 thousand 802 (0.02 percent)

Total vote share of the 6 parties: 0.43 percent.

In the municipal councils;
Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP): 258 thousand 238 votes (0.6 percent).
Communist Party of Turkey (TKP): 127 thousand 248 votes (0.29 percent).
Labour Party (EMEP): 41 thousand 58 votes (0.09 percent)
Left Party (Sol Parti): 54 thousand 624 votes (0.12 percent).
Communist Movement of Turkey (TKH): 21 thousand 821 votes (0.05 percent).
People's Liberation Party (HKP): 3 thousand 472 votes (0.01 percent).
Total vote share of the 6 parties: 1.16 percent.

PLACES WHERE SOCIALISTS WON

Socialist parties did not win any metropolitan or provincial mayoralties across Turkey. The Workers' Party of Turkey won the elections in the Samandağ district of Hatay and the Hacıbektaş district of Nevşehir, while the Left Party won in the Hozat district of Tunceli and the town of Saratlı in the Gülağaç district of Aksaray.

In Samandağ, TİP mayoral candidate Emrah Karaçay won with 47.06 percent (30 thousand 377 votes). TİP received 37.89 percent of the vote in the Municipal Council election.
Independent candidate Ali Kaim, supported by TİP in Nevşehir Hacıbektaş, won the mayorship with 42.1 percent. They finished the race ahead in the TİP Municipal Council with 37.67 percent.

In the Hozat district of Tunceli, Left Party candidate Aydın Kaya won the mayorship with 23.51 percent (478 votes). In Hozat, where the CHP came in second with 22.09 percent, the TİP candidate finished the election in third place with 20.76 percent (422 votes).

The Left Party also won the elections in the town of Saratlı in the Gülağaç district of Aksaray. In the election where Left Party candidate Cuma Kaplan and CHP candidate Zeki Türker competed, the Left Party candidate Kaplan was elected mayor with 716 votes.

THE RACE WAS CLOSE

The election race between the TKP and CHP candidates in the Defne district of Hatay was very close.
While CHP candidate Halil İbrahim Özgün won the mayorship with 32 thousand 693 votes (45.83 percent), TKP candidate Hizam Hasırcı received 28 thousand 268 votes (39.62 percent). TİP candidate Mehmet Güzelyurt came in fourth after the AKP with 3 thousand 729 votes (5.23 percent).

In Arsuz, TİP candidate Eşref Karayün finished the mayoral race in third place with 5 thousand 55 votes (8.53 percent).

MAÇOĞLU RECEIVED LOWER-THAN-EXPECTED RESULTS

TKP candidate Mehmet Fatih Maçoğlu, who won the mayorship of Ovacık in 2014 and Tunceli in 2019, ran for mayor of Kadıköy on March 31. Maçoğlu finished the election in third place with 31 thousand 38 votes (10.02 percent). CHP candidate Mesut Kösedağ won the mayorship with 68.78 percent.
The TKP received 8 thousand 46 votes (4.14 percent) in the municipal council. Since it could not pass the 10 percent threshold, it did not secure any council seats.

ERKAN BAŞ COULD NOT WIN

TİP Chairman and Istanbul MP Erkan Baş ran for mayor of Gebze, Kocaeli. Baş, who was also supported by the CHP, received a lower-than-expected result. Erkan Baş received 40 thousand 438 votes (19.92 percent) and finished the election in third place after the AKP and the IYI Party.

TİP received 12.54 percent of the vote (1 thousand 321) in the Adalar district and became the third party. TİP secured a council seat in the Municipal Council election with 13.97 percent of the vote.

TİP experienced a major decline in mayoral and municipal council elections in some districts of Istanbul where it had achieved a high vote share in the May 14, 2023 general elections.
TİP's vote share in Bakırköy fell from 7.64 percent to 1.07 percent,
in Kadıköy from 9.60 percent to 1.25 percent,
in Beşiktaş from 8.44 percent to 1.29 percent,
in Şişli from 7.66 percent to 1.25 percent,
in Sarıyer from 5.08 percent to 1.61 percent.

TUNCELI AND ITS DISTRICTS…

On the other hand, in the center of Tunceli, the independent candidate supported by some socialist parties and mass organizations, former CHP MP Hüseyin Aygün, received 7.63 percent of the vote. In the Tunceli election won by the DEM Party, Aygün finished the mayoral race in the middle of the pack.

The Labour Party (EMEP) came in second in Ovacık with 33.64 percent (685 votes), in Mazgirt with 36.41 percent (280 votes), and in Pertek with 31.2 percent (1 thousand 256 votes).

The Left Party, in Kemalpaşa where it was ambitious and conducted intensive work, became the third party after the CHP and AKP with 13.15 percent (560 votes).

News Source: 12punto