Turkey experienced a polarizing election period during the March 31 municipal elections. Controversies related to the polls and the consequences of the elections are not yet settled.

The period for challenging the Istanbul election is over. The provincial electoral authority has certified Ekrem Imamoglu, who ran on the Republican People's Party (CHP) ticket, as mayor of Turkey's largest city.

New developments fuel tensions between Washington and Ankara. Despite U.S. President Donald Trump's promises to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan over the phone, no problem has yet gone away. Quite the contrary, the foreign policy establishment and Congress continue to try and undermine bilateral relations.

Turkey's Supreme Election Council (YSK) has been reviewing objections to the unofficial vote count in Istanbul. The election watchdog found errors in the vote count as well as certain irregularities.

Turkey's municipal election was a hard-fought battle between two alliances. The vote took place in line with democratic maturity, as local communities elected their new mayors.

The government sees the post-election years as an opportunity to follow a more proactive foreign policy and implement structural reforms in the economy

Turkey's local election campaigning took on the tone and tenor of general elections this year, and survival was the predominant theme in President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's campaign discourse.

The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) received the 43.16 percent of the vote in the local elections of 2014, the highest of all participating parties. For the local elections of March 31, it received 45 percent, increasing 2 percent, and came out as the clear victor again. However, the country's major cities, such as Istanbul and Ankara, voted differently in the majority, which shows the power of the legitimate election rallies in Turkey.

People went to the polls on Sunday to elect the local administrators for the cities and municipalities around Turkey. For the last two months, political parties campaigned extensively throughout Turkey. The high voter turnout rate again proved the Turkish people's commitment to democracy and their participation in this democratic process. While these sentences were written, the vote count was still going on.

Turkey will hold municipal elections tomorrow. The People's Alliance and the Nation Alliance have worked very hard to win over undecided voters and maximize turnout.

If the People's Alliance succeeds in the elections, the AK Party and the MHP may deepen their ties and continue to institutionalize the new political system, buoyed by this enthusiasm

This analysis explains the March 2019 local election’s significance to Turkish politics and concentrates on the ways in which the visions of various political parties for local government have changed over the years.

Local elections in Turkey are taking on the character of general elections as foreign policy comes to dominate the conversation.

The final two weeks of any election campaign fuels the momentum that settles the score. Leaders and candidates, therefore, put their best foot forward in the final days before the election. Turkey finds itself at that very spot now. The municipal election is just 10 days away.

On March 13, the European Parliament voted on the suspension of accession talks with Turkey.

As expected, the municipal election campaign in Turkey has ended up bogged down in national issues.

It has been awhile since political parties in Turkey began preparations for the upcoming local elections. Indeed, they had already been focusing on implementing a new approach to broaden their appeal before the snap election decision.