 spokesperson Deniz Yücel has announced mayoral candidates from the party in 126 districts in nine provinces for the upcoming local elections scheduled for March, local media reported on Thursday.){kind=link}
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) spokesperson Deniz Yücel has announced mayoral candidates from the party in 126 districts in nine provinces for the upcoming local elections scheduled for March, local media reported on Thursday.
The candidates, initially proposed by the Central Executive Board (MYK) under the leadership of party chairman Özgür Özel, were later voted on at a party council meeting.
Former lawmaker Muharrem Erkek, also a Central Executive Board (MYK) member and CHP deputy chairman for legal affairs, is the mayoral candidate in Çanakkale, where current mayor Ülgür Gökhan is not running for re-election.
The party’s Kırşehir Mayor Selahattin Ekicioğlu and Ardahan Mayor Faruk Demir have been nominated again as candidates for the upcoming elections.
Ferdi Zeybek, branch president of the local Chamber of Architects, is the mayoral candidate in the CHP leader’s hometown of Manisa. İsmail Sonkaya and Cevat Öncü were nominated as the mayoral candidates for the party in the major cities of Konya and Samsun, respectively.
The CHP’s former Bartın MP, Rıza Yalçınkaya, was nominated in Bartın, while Eyüp Kahveci was nominated in Kütahya and Turgay Sevindi in Amasya.
The CHP has also announced mayoral candidates for three districts in Ankara and two in İstanbul.
In Ankara, Adem Barış Aşkın, the current mayor of Elmadağ; Mehmet Doğanay in Güdül; and Fethi Yaşar, the incumbent mayor of Yenimahalle, have been announced as the CHP’s mayoral candidates.
In İstanbul, Mahir Polat, the former secretary-general of the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB), is the candidate for Fatih, and Tarık Balyalı, the deputy group chairman of the CHP in the city, is the candidate for Pendik.
Contrary to expectations, the candidates for mayor of Adana, Mersin and Aydın were not announced at the CHP’s council meeting, attributed to the fact that some metropolitan mayors will not be re-nominated.
On Dec. 14 the CHP announced its mayoral candidates in more than 220 electoral districts, including four metropolitan cities. Mansur Yavaş in Ankara, Ekrem İmamoğlu in İstanbul and Tanju Özcan in Bolu were all re-nominated.
Mustafa Bozbey was nominated as the Bursa metropolitan mayoral candidate, while Ahmet Akın was named the Balıkesir metropolitan mayor candidate.
Polls suggest that a majority of Kurdish voters in İstanbul still favor İmamoğlu in the upcoming elections. The CHP, in its bid to retain control of the major cities won in 2019, such as Ankara and İstanbul, is preparing for an intense campaign.
Meanwhile, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) also selected candidates for 27 districts, including Esenyurt, Sancaktepe, Adalar and Sultanbeyli in İstanbul, this week. The party also gave a green light to cooperation with the CHP in some provinces in the west.
The party will field candidates in four districts in Aydın, three each in İzmir, Adana and Manisa, two in Tekirdağ, and one each in Antalya, Kocaeli and Çanakkale.