 has officially declared Ekrem İmamoğlu, the jailed mayor of İstanbul, its candidate for president.){kind=link}
Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has officially declared Ekrem İmamoğlu, the jailed mayor of İstanbul, its candidate for president.
The decision was made unanimously during a meeting of the party’s parliamentary group on Thursday.
Of the 134 members present, 132 participated in the secret ballot, with no dissenting votes. Two lawmakers were absent for valid reasons.
The decision followed the procedures outlined in the Presidential Election Law and CHP bylaws.
İmamoğlu, seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s strongest political rival, was arrested on Sunday, when his party was to hold a primary to determine its presidential candidate. The vote was held as planned, and a record number of some 15 million people voted for the jailed mayor.
The mayor was detained on March 19, which sparked mass protests that have spread across Turkey. The ballot took place as an İstanbul court was formalizing 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.
After the announcement of his candidacy, İmamoğlu on social media through his lawyers thanked the party members who participated in the primary, citizens who cast solidarity votes and those in the party’s central council and parliamentary group for their support.
“We are about to embark on a long, challenging journey filled with obstacles,” he wrote on X. “At the end of this journey, there will be democracy, law, justice and prosperity. Most importantly, there will be a brighter Turkey.”
CHP leader Özgür Özel invited all political parties, NGOs, labor unions, professional organizations and people espousing all points of view to join the “Freedom for İmamoğlu” rally in Maltepe on Saturday.
The CHP has called the detention of the mayor “a coup attempt against our next president” intended to sideline him in the presidential race against Erdoğan.
Turkey is scheduled to hold the next presidential election in 2028.