, a former minister, is leading the polls by less than one point against İstanbul’s incumbent opposition mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, according to the results of a recent survey.){kind=link}
The mayoral candidate of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), a former minister, is leading the polls by less than one point against İstanbul’s incumbent opposition mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, according to the results of a recent survey.
The survey showing AKP candidate for mayor Murat Kurum ahead of the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) İmamoğlu was conducted by the Gezici Research Center. The results were shared by the company’s president, Murat Gezici, during a live broadcast on TV100 on Wednesday.
Two weeks remain before Turkey’s local elections, scheduled for March 31.
When asked whom they would vote for in the upcoming mayoral election, 44.1 percent of respondents said they would vote for Kurum, followed by İmamoğlu, who received 43.5 percent support.
Gezici claimed that he faced pressure from CHP circles due to the results of the survey, expressing confidence that the election results would closely resemble the poll’s figures.
He also argued that the margin between the candidates could rise as high as 1.8 percent.
İmamoğlu was followed by the candidates of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) (4.1 percent), the far-right, anti-refugee Victory Party (ZP) (3.1 percent), the New Welfare Party (YRP) (2.3 percent) and the nationalist opposition İYİ (Good) Party (1.7 percent).
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on January 7 announced the nomination of Kurum, a former environment minister and current AKP lawmaker, as his party’s mayoral candidate to win back İstanbul from İmamoğlu.
İmamoğlu ended the years-long AKP rule in İstanbul when he defeated the party’s candidate in a repeat election in 2019. The election was held a second time due to the AKP’s claims about irregularities in the vote, as a result of which İmamoğlu won by an even greater margin.
İmamoğlu, who is viewed as Erdoğan’s most powerful political rival, faces a political ban and a jail sentence, if upheld by the top appeals court, on insult charges due to his remarks about election authority officials in 2019 as a result of a politically charged trial.