, has said his party would not hesitate to field İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu as its presidential candidate if he again wins the local election scheduled for March 31.){kind=link}
Özgür Özel, the leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), has said his party would not hesitate to field İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu as its presidential candidate if he again wins the local election scheduled for March 31.
Özel made his remarks during a program on Tuesday on the pro-opposition Halk TV.
“If Ekrem İmamoğlu wins the election, if surveys show him leading ahead of [President] Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, we will not hesitate to field him as our presidential candidate,” said Özel.
The next presidential election in Turkey is scheduled to take place in 2028. Erdoğan, who secured another term as president in May, has said he will not run again.
İmamoğlu, who is currently seeking re-election as mayor of İstanbul, was a potential rival of Erdoğan in the May presidential election.
However the CHP’s then-leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, was nominated as the joint presidential candidate of an opposition alliance and was defeated by Erdoğan in a runoff election. Kılıçdaroğlu was voted out of party leadership at a congress in November.
Although public surveys show İmamoğlu ahead of the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) İstanbul mayoral candidate, Murat Kurum, a former minister, he is facing a more challenging election this time because a pro-Kurdish party and a nationalist party that supported his candidacy in 2019 have fielded their own candidates for the March 31 election.
The CHP gained control of İstanbul and Ankara for the first time in years in 2019, ending the years-long rule of the AKP and its predecessors in those cities.
The opposition’s control of Turkey’s three main cities shattered Erdoğan’s image of political invincibility and underscored the level of resentment against his dominant rule.
After he securing yet another term in the May presidential election, Erdoğan set his sights on winning the three big cities in the local elections.
Most analysts believe Erdoğan has a better chance of winning in İstanbul than he does Ankara.