34 of the 63 municipalities won by Yeniden Refah transferred to AKP

The Yeniden Refah Party (YRP), which emerged as the third-largest party by capturing 6.2 percent of the vote in the March 31, 2024 local elections, has lost 34 of the 63 municipalities it won to the AKP. The transfer process has proceeded quietly since election night.

The sharpest blow came in Konya. All six municipalities won by YRP across the province went to the AKP. In this city where Necmettin Erbakan, the founding figure of the National View movement, served as a member of parliament, not a single municipality now remains in the hands of his son Fatih Erbakan.

The total number of mayors from other parties and independent candidates who have joined the AKP following the local elections has reached 83. In the latest wave, Foça Mayor Saniye Bora Fıçı, Kayseri Akkışla Mayor Mustafa Dursun, and Felahiye Mayor Şeref Güleser defected from the CHP; Muş Sungu Township Mayor Burhan Sayılgan defected from YRP — all joining the AKP.

YRP had entered the 2023 elections as an independent party with its own candidates, having broken from the Saadet Party tradition that ran aligned with the AKP in 2019. Losing more than half of its municipalities within two years effectively dismantles the party's autonomous standing within the opposition bloc.