Some 15 million people voted in Sunday’s symbolic primary organized by Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) in a mass show of support for İstanbul’s newly deposed mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, the municipality said.
“Out of a total of 15 million votes, 13,211,000 (not-party members) are solidarity votes,” the municipality said of the long-planned primary at which İmamoğlu was to have been named the party’s candidate for the 2028 presidential race.
Observers said it was the looming primary that triggered the move against İmamoğlu, widely seen as the only politician capable of challenging President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Throughout the day, voters flocked to ballot boxes in 81 cities after the CHP opened up the poll beyond its 1.7 million party members to anyone who wanted to participate.
People turned out in such large numbers that voting was extended by an extra three-and-a-half hours.
İmamoğlu was detained early on Wednesday, sparking mass protests that have spread across Turkey. The ballot took place as an İstanbul court formalized his arrest in a corruption probe.
Several hours later, the interior ministry suspended him as mayor as he was sent to a prison on the megacity’s western outskirts.
© Agence France-Presse