The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and its main ally in People’s Alliance Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) are counting down to the March 31 municipal elections, the next challenge for their alliance. Encouraged by victory in the May elections that cemented the AK Party’s decades-old success, representatives of the two parties will seek a repeat of their accomplishment. They are expected to meet later this week to choose potential candidates for 81 provinces and 922 districts.

The two parties will field their own candidates in most constituencies, but they signaled that they might endorse each other’s candidate in certain places where their own candidates have more potential to win, such as MHP strongholds or municipalities that have been run by the AK Party for more than two terms.

Following its Oct. 7 congress, the AK Party tasked three names with determining candidates, including former Interior Minister Efkan Ala, who currently serves as acting chairperson of the AK Party, Ali Ihsan Yavuz, a party stalwart who heads its electoral affairs committee and Yusuf Ziya Yılmaz, a veteran mayor who now heads Local Administrations office of the AK Party.

Delegations from the two parties were expected to hold their first meeting for work on candidates, but it was postponed amid Israeli airstrikes targeting Palestinians in Gaza that led Türkiye to declare a three-day mourning last week.

The People’s Alliance secured 323 seats in the 600-seat Parliament in May’s general elections and fielded joint candidates in local elections in 2019. Currently, the AK Party runs 810 of 1,392 municipalities across Türkiye, while 1,041 municipalities are run by People’s Alliance mayors from the MHP.

MHP and AK Party officials will present the names of potential candidates to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is also chair of the AK Party, and MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli. The two leaders were expected to make a final decision on the candidates after further consultations with the party officials.

Delegations of the two parties will also work on an election road map, including a schedule for election rallies and slogans that will be used in the campaigns and whether they will hold joint rallies.

For its part, the AK Party meticulously works to determine candidates through surveys. More than 350 surveys were conducted by the party for candidates and in November, the party will start asking the public to name their favorite candidates. Also in November, the party is expected to open registration for people seeking candidacy.