Not accustomed to defeat, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) was shaken when it lost several strongholds to the longtime rival Republican People’s Party (CHP). The party intends to turn around its fortunes with its leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, pledging changes upon what he calls "the message our citizens gave in the elections."

The party’s senior cadres are touring Türkiye ahead of a congress that is expected to reshuffle the party, while surveys that claimed the CHP had the upper hand put the AK Party ahead again in the post-election period. Turkish media outlets released the results of the Metropole survey company for August and pointed out that 22.7% of the voters would pick the AK Party in case of a snap election, ahead of 19.3% of the CHP. The same survey, downplayed by figures close to the CHP, which claims to boost its vote even more after the municipal polls on March 31, shows fewer people support the opposition party’s chair Özgür Özel and Ekrem Imamoğlu, popular CHP mayor of Istanbul, who is viewed as a key contender in next general election in 2028.

Mustafa Şen, deputy chair of the AK Party, said they had several survey results that showed people had faith in the AK Party. "They did not abandon the AK Party," Şen, who was in the northern city of Gümüşhane on Saturday as part of his party’s "Türkiye Meetings," says they were confident of future success. "We did not have the expected results on March 31, but we always believed in fate. This is what our president said after the election: What happened has certainly has a blessing in store for us," he told reporters. "I believe this blessing will manifest itself in 2028," he said, referring to the next general election. Şen said they came second in the municipal elections and acknowledged they "made a mistake."

"We have to regain the trust of our nation. To achieve this, we have to rectify our mistakes. Eventually, the nation will carry us back to the first place. You can’t lose your morale just because you conceded one goal after scoring 20 others. We have the best coach now and we have to focus on future matches," Şen said. He was borrowing a football analogy from CHP Chair Özgür Özel, who recently said he wanted to be "head coach picking the scorer" when asked if he would run for the presidency in 2028 and hinted he’d endorse the CHP’s popular names Imamoğlu or Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş. "We now have a congress and will have replacements and define a better game plan," Şen told reporters.

The AK Party, which boasts its brand of municipalism shaped during two decades of dominance in municipalities, counts on the public’s post-election disappointment with the services of CHP-run municipalities, especially in places where it lost mayoral seats it long held. Şen highlighted the state of public services in CHP-run municipalities such as Istanbul and Izmir.

"In Istanbul, they have no project they started from scratch. In addition, even their supporters complain of high bills. People pay for water more than electricity in Istanbul. In Izmir, the Aegean Sea is dying," he said, referring to mass pollution that reportedly led to mass fish deaths in a western Turkish city run by the CHP for more than a decade. "These are just a few examples. If the AK Party were in power in municipalities, you wouldn’t have this; you wouldn’t have a stinking sea," he says.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan now convenes his party’s central administration committee almost weekly ahead of a planned congress later this autumn. Another convention is scheduled for this week, where the party administrators will weigh the process of "Türkiye Meetings" and the outcome of party officials’ contacts with the public to hear about the complaints. Şen and two other deputy chairs are expected to present at the meeting.

AK Party officials have been visiting towns and cities for meetings with voters, from businesses to nongovernmental organizations and citizens.

Erdoğan has mobilized the party and vowed a meticulous insight behind the factors that led to less-than-stellar results of the March 31 municipal elections, in which the party took a hit in the hands of the opposition. The AK Party lost some major municipal seats for the first time in years, failing to retake the mayoralty in the capital Ankara and Istanbul, which it governed for years. Since then, Erdoğan increased the number of meetings with party members for a future strategy and delving into the causes of the losses. He promised a change within the party earlier and has already replaced several heads of the party’s provincial branches.

"We desire to turn our marathon for the eighth congress into a step for a resurrection, a new initiative, a new step for the future of Türkiye," the president said at a meeting in the capital of Ankara earlier this month. The president was confident of a renewal of success and as he addressed party members, he expressed gratitude for "flying the flag of the AK Party everywhere." Erdoğan said at the event that the AK Party faced many attacks, "operations and attempts to subdue it" in the 23 years since it was founded. "We overcame many challenges from terror attacks to riots and (slander) campaigns in the media. They aimed to sow the seeds of strife in our party. They put obstacles before us to stop our work. We faced attacks from everywhere, from local and international media, the elite viewing themselves as ‘owners’ of Türkiye, certain business circles and intelligence agencies. They tried everything to pit people against each other. We staved off all attacks," Erdoğan said.

He emphasized that the party became something beyond a political entity and embraced the entire population. "We will carry on our love for a stronger Türkiye. United as the People’s Alliance, we will march toward a bright tomorrow," he said, referring to the party’s alliance with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which also climbed in post-election surveys, right behind the CHP.

When it was first founded, the party thrived upon the votes of a wide spectrum of electorate, from right-wing to left-wing. Tired of the short-lived coalition governments of the 1990s, the public viewed the AK Party as a new hope in the political landscape. Although most of the party's founders, including Erdoğan, were those split from the Welfare Party (RP), which is labeled as "Islamist" by its rivals, the party offered something for everyone, from massive public projects neglected by the past governments to rights for disadvantaged communities, from Kurds to headscarf-wearing women who fell victim to isolation policies of the past. The opposition found its only chance against the AK Party was unity. In the 2023 elections, Erdoğan found himself in a rare runoff against his rival in general elections when six parties joined forces. But again, Erdoğan defeated his rival, then CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. The president often refers to the AK Party's past accomplishments to lure voters back to the party again, under the motto of "Only the AK Party does it." Political pundits say people fearing an uncertain future after a long rule of the AK Party threw their support back to Erdoğan, but disappointment with the lingering high cost of living crisis might have cost the AK Party municipal seats as the electorate sought to "warn" the AK Party that their support may have its boundaries despite the party's glorious past deeds.