Türkiye’s biggest metropolitan Istanbul will have its reputation redefined by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) after the local elections in March 2024, according to the party’s Istanbul Provincial Chair Osman Nuri Kabaktepe.

The city, which has lived a "lack of services and works" under main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) mayors for the past four years, will regain AK Party’s service quality, Kabaktepe vowed on Saturday as he spoke at an event in Istanbul.

Arguing that CHP mayors, particularly Istanbul’s Ekrem Imamoğlu, have been trying to "cover up their failures with public manipulation," Kabaktepe slammed the opposition for "accomplishing and producing nothing for Istanbul" during Imamoğlu’s tenure.

He pointed to fundamental problems in the city, like a potential earthquake that would be devastating on an unprecedented scale due to a lack of urban transformation of thousands of decrepit buildings, dwindling dam levels and the public transport system, which has seen several shortages and even burning buses over the past few months.

When AK Party’s Kadir Topbaş ruled as mayor, Istanbul Municipality used the slogan "the city incorporating the highest number of metro routes at the same time," which Imamoğlu has appropriated, Kabaktepe said.

"He can use it, but Istanbul now has a new slogan: ‘The city where the highest number of buses burn at the same time.’ We will restore AK Party municipalism in Istanbul in the March 2024 elections and Istanbul will have given the best response to this neglect and failure," he said.

Kabaktepe further dismissed Imamoğlu’s claims that the AK Party has been "obstructing" his office in taking action as "lies and manipulation."

Less than six months are left until Türkiye goes to polls again to elect office-holders in 81 provinces, most notably in megacities like Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, which host over 50% of the country's population and are all currently governed by CHP.

March 2024 is poised to be a critical test for the opposition parties, but the AK Party is determined to regain the mayoral offices of these cities, as well as Mersin, Adana and Antalya, from the CHP. In constituencies like Izmir, Kadıköy and Çankaya – historically CHP strongholds – the ruling party is aiming for a serious spike in voter support.

Since the presidential and parliamentary elections in May, it has been conducting voter satisfaction surveys, tallying up the "shortcomings" of its opponents and working to rekindle lost support in Istanbul. Politically, the city is seen as the most important administrative region in Türkiye and carries symbolic significance for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan since his time as mayor served as a launchpad for the foundation of the AK Party in 2001 and their subsequent election in 2003.

While an election manifesto or possible candidates are not yet clear, the party and its partner, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), are likely to maintain their fruitful People’s Alliance for next year’s vote, as well.

Erdoğan and MHP chair Devlet Bahçeli met in late August and agreed to kick off preparations for picking mayoral candidates and drawing up electoral strategies, local media reported.

The MHP’s deputy chair too assured this Saturday that the party would "never compromise its principled stance as a part of the People’s Alliance."

The MHP aims for the People’s Alliance to win the 11 southeastern provinces devastated by two deadly earthquakes in February this year, Semih Yalçın said in a written statement. The region overwhelmingly voted for Erdoğan and AK Party in the May polls, as well.

"We are working to recapture lost constituencies, especially Ankara and Istanbul, in line with Bahçeli’s orders to establish ‘complete harmony’ between the central office and local administrations," Yalçın stressed.

The party will run a campaign titled "To 2024, Anatolia Step by Step."

Yalçın also hit out at the opposition’s second-biggest Good Party (IP) and its Chairperson, Meral Akşener, for declaring they would run separate candidates in all constituencies come March "as a move to strengthen her hand in the bargaining table."

Since a decisive defeat in May elections fractured the IP and CHP’s six-party opposition bloc Nation Alliance, Akşener has been vocally critical of her partner, CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who lost the bloc’s best chance at unseating Erdoğan.

In August, she announced her party would compete with its own cadres in March, which complicates CHP’s odds in many cities it won with the IP’s support in the 2019 elections, especially Istanbul, when they endorsed Imamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş for Ankara.

While Imamoğlu himself has announced his intention to run again without any official confirmation from his party, Akşener has reiterated her point and shut down any possibility of another electoral alliance on Wednesday, saying, "We couldn’t win by uniting, but there is a possibility of winning by separating to become a ruling party alternative."

But also on Wednesday, she met with Muharrem Ince, ex-CHP candidate and the head of Homeland Party (MP), for a closed-door meeting, fueling speculations of a new alliance, which whether will come to fruition or not remains to be seen.