İstanbul’s opposition mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, widely seen as a possible challenger to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, will run for a second term in local elections on March 31, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
İmamoğlu, 52, blamed the national government’s “irrational” policies for the economic hardship in the city of 16 million in a speech following the announcement of his candidacy by his Republican People’s Party (CHP).
“The nation has become poorer, and so has the city of İstanbul. But since we have put a stop to waste, we have managed to do twice as much as they did before us, and at half the cost,” he said, referring to the previous Justice and Development Party (AKP) administration.
İmamoğlu was elected in March 2019 with a surprise but narrow 14,000-vote win over an AKP rival. The election was canceled over allegations of “vote stealing,” but a June re-run widened his lead to nearly 800,000.
His victory and popularity gave the opposition hope they could defeat Erdoğan in last year’s presidential election, but his party ultimately lost in the May election, extending Erdoğan’s rule into a third decade.
The CHP, in its bid to retain control of the major cities won in 2019 such as Ankara and İstanbul, is preparing for an intense campaign.
In March İmamoğlu’s task will be made harder by the loss of support of the nationalist opposition İYİ (Good) Party, which had backed him in 2019 but now plans to field a separate candidate.
President Erdoğan recently announced the slogan “Yeniden İstanbul” (Once Again İstanbul), highlighting the ruling party’s focus on reclaiming the major cities it lost in 2019, especially İstanbul. His AKP is expected to declare its candidate for İstanbul on Sunday.
Polls suggest that a majority of Kurdish voters in İstanbul still favor İmamoğlu for the upcoming elections.
