İstanbul’s incumbent opposition mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, is extending his lead over the mayoral candidate of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), according to the results of the second survey conducted by the Ankara-based MetroPoll this month.
Turkey is scheduled to hold local elections this Sunday.
The survey, which was conducted on 2,100 people across the city between March 24 and 26, shows AKP candidate for mayor Murat Kurum, a former minister, losing against the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) İmamoğlu, confirming the results of several other recent surveys, including Metropoll’s first survey in March.
Kurum is followed by the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) candidate (3.1 percent) and the candidate from the New Welfare Party (YRP) (2.4 percent).
A significant number of survey participants, however, have not yet made up their minds which candidate they will vote for, with 19.9 percent of respondents saying they were undecided or did not want to answer the question.
The first March survey, conducted March 15-18, indicated that İmamoğlu had secured 39.2 percent of the vote, while Kurum had the support of 30.4 percent.
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.
When the CHP gained control of İstanbul and Ankara for the first time in years in 2019, the 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 secured yet another term in the May presidential election, Erdoğan set his sights on winning back the three big cities in the local elections.