PodcastWoman mayors to lead 11 of Turkey's 81 provinces
In Turkey's local elections, woman mayoral candidates won in 11 out of 81 provinces. Even though four woman DEM Party candidates have officially won the mayorship, one woman and one man will serve as mayor at the same time in the 10 provinces they won due to the party’s co-chairperson system.
Duvar English
In the run-up to the March 31 Local Elections, the candidate lists for mayors fell short in terms of gender equality for nearly all parties and resulted in only 11 out of 81 provinces slated to have women mayors.
Nonetheless, even though four women candidates from the Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party lists will officially represent the mayorship, one woman and one man will serve as mayor at the same time in the 10 provinces they won due to the co-chairperson system of the party.
In the 2019 local elections, women were elected as mayors in merely four out of 81 provinces.
AĞRI
En eastern Ağrı province, pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party's official candidate Hazal Aras won the municipality with 51.07 of the votes.
Aras was elected co-mayor of Diyadin District in the 2019 local elections, yet the government appointed a trustee in her place.
AFYONKARAHİSAR
CHP Afyonkarahisar mayoral candidate Burcu Köksal completed the election in first place with 50.73 percent of the votes and she became the first woman mayor of western Afyonkarahisar province.
AYDIN
Özlem Çerçioğlu from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) won the western Aydın Metropolitan Municipality with 50.53 of the votes.