Erdogan seeks revenge in Turkey’s local polls
ISTANBUL: Turks will vote next Sunday in local elections as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, buoyed by a strong showing in last year’s general elections, sets his sights on winning back Istanbul.
The secular opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) took back control of the city — Turkey’s economic powerhouse — for the first time since before Erdogan ruled it as mayor in the 1990s in watershed 2019 polls.
That vote also saw the opposition win back the capital Ankara and keep power in the crucial Aegean port city of Izmir, shattering Erdogan’s image of political invincibility.
Erdogan has entrusted his former environment minister Murat Kurum to run for mayor of Istanbul in the March 31 polls as he looks to avenge the worst political defeat of his twodecade rule when CHP archrival Ekrem Imamoglu took the town hall.
The powerful president bounced back last year to win a tough presidential election that came in the throes of an economic crisis and a massive earthquake that claimed more than 53,000 lives in Turkey.
Now, Erdogan has set his sights on winning back Istanbul — the city where he grew up and launched his political career as mayor in 1994.
Imamoglu edged out an Erdogan ally in a 2019 election that gained international headlines for being controversially annulled.
He won a re-run vote by a massive margin that turned him into an instant hero for the opposition and a formidable foe for Erdogan.
The 52-year-old is widely seen as the opposition’s best bet at winning back the presidency from Erdogan’s AKP party in 2028.
“Imamoglu is an effective political operator and at this point in time represents one of the very few glimmers of hope for constituents who oppose Erdogan and the AKP,” Anthony Skinner, director of research at geopolitical advisory firm Marlow Global, told AFP.
Last year’s poor general election showing fractured the opposition and prompted the pro-Kurdish DEM Party — the third largest in parliament — to submit its own candidates in the local polls.
In 2019, CHP’s Imamoglu received support from a wide range of political parties that included the right-wing IYI, Kurds and Socialists who oppose Erdogan.
However, the lack of unity this time will likely cost Imamoglu several percentage points.
Erdogan is leading the AKP campaign, and his rallies are broadcast daily on television, whereas the opposition candidates are given little airtime. They use social media instead. The Erdogan government’s failure to get soaring inflation of 67 percent under control could hurt his Kurum’s chances.
Erdogan is due to hold a major rally in Istanbul on Sunday, hoping to unite supporters behind Kurum.
Erman Bakirci from Konda polling company insisted that “Imamoglu is ahead” in Istanbul and suggested there could be “a gap between the polls and the actual election results.”
In the capital Ankara, CHP Mayor Mansur Yavas appears to be ahead, but “a very tight race” could play out, political communications expert Eren Aksoyoglu said, adding that AKP’s nationalist allies are “putting all their weight into the battle.”