Examining the 2019-2024 local elections through voters and mayoral candidates: Aksaray Central District example

Local governments are administrative structures that have come into existence to meet the local needs of residents living in the local area. Municipalities have a wider service area and type than other local units in terms of their area of responsibility and duties. Mayoral candidates also try to attract the attention of the public with their election campaigns and win the election by increasing the vote rate. This study was conducted to examine the relationship between the behaviors of mayoral candidates and voters in the central district of Aksaray province within the scope of the 2019 and 2024 local elections. The universe of the study consists of voters in the central district of Aksaray who voted in both elections. As a sample, the mayoral candidates of the central district of Aksaray and 60 voters determined by the snowball sampling method from the universe were selected within the framework of the concept of candidate and voter. Two different interview forms were prepared for two different samples. In line with the findings obtained, when the 2019 and 2024 election periods in Aksaray are compared, it is concluded that there have been changes in the voting behaviour of the voters in Aksaray province, which is the stronghold of AKP, and that these changes have been reflected on the candidate preference and the economic conditions in the country through the ruling party.