Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has decided to renominate the current mayors of İstanbul and Ankara, who ended years-long Justice and Development Party (AKP) rule in these two cities in the 2019 vote, to run in the upcoming local elections.
The party announced on Thursday its list of mayoral candidates for four metropolitan municipalities, six provinces and 216 towns and districts. The list has been submitted to the party council and has been approved.
İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş, as expected, are the party’s mayoral candidates for these cities for the March 31 local elections.
İmamoğlu, one of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s most prominent political rivals, is currently facing a political ban and a prison sentence on charges of insulting election officials. His conviction, which many say is politically motivated, is under appeal.
Tanju Özcan, the controversial mayor of the northwestern province of Bolu, will also be running as a candidate again for the Bolu Municipality.
He frequently sparks criticism from human rights groups due to his targeting of refugees living in the city such as imposing exorbitant fees for municipal services.
Özcan was expelled from the CHP in July amid his calls for a change in leadership to replace the party’s former chairman, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
Following the election of Özgür Özel as the party’s leader in early November, the CHP’s party council decided to allow Özcan to return to the party.
The CHP will gradually reveal the names of the other candidates based on the results of opinion surveys and reports to be drafted by the lawmakers about the potential candidates.