, a former minister, according to the results of a recent survey.){kind=link}
İstanbul’s incumbent opposition mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, is holding on to his lead over the mayoral candidate of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), a former minister, according to the results of a recent survey.
Turkey is scheduled to hold local elections this Sunday.
The survey, conducted in March, showing AKP candidate for mayor Murat Kurum losing against the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) İmamoğlu was conducted by the Ankara-based MetroPoll, confirming the results of several other recent surveys.
According to the results, İmamoğlu wins 39.2 percent of the vote in İstanbul, while the public support for Kurum stands at 30.4 percent.
Kurum is followed by the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) mayoral candidate with 3.2 percent.
A significant number of survey participants, however, have not yet made up their mind about which candidate they will vote for, with 18.1 percent of respondents saying they were undecided or did not want to answer the question.
İmamoğlu, who is viewed as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s most powerful political rival, 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 of irregularities in the vote, as a result of which İmamoğlu won by an even greater margin.
MetroPoll’s survey also revealed that 48.5 percent of the people in İstanbul believe that İmamoğlu will win the election, while only 32.6 percent think Kurum will be the winner.
In February, these percentages were 45.7 for İmamoğlu and 35.5 for Kurum.
When the CHP gained control of İstanbul and Ankara for the first time in years in 2019, years-long rule of the AKP and its predecessors in those cities ended.
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 back the three big cities in the local elections.