Controversial Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu defended his record in Istanbul and squarely blamed the government for his shortcomings as his party introduced him as a candidate again for the March municipal elections.
Imamoğlu took the floor on Friday after Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chair Özgür Özel’s speech. A large crowd often interrupted his speech with applause at the Haliç Congress Center of Türkiye’s most populated city. Accompanying by a screening of videos about his tenure, Imamoğlu was confident in winning the seat again, about five years after his unprecedented victory against the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) candidate. As he unveiled his election campaign entitled "Full Speed Ahead to Serve Istanbul," Imamoğlu peppered his speech with criticism of the AK Party-run government, claiming his infrastructure projects were not financially endorsed.
The mayor, whose popularity skyrocketed after his nomination in 2019 while he was serving as mayor of a district of Istanbul, carved out an image of a "man of the people" onstage. His warm embrace of Özgür Özel, as the two greeted the crowd, aimed to shoot down rumors that he was trying to influence the CHP’s candidate-picking process. Imamoğlu was an opponent of former CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu after the latter lost the general election and was accused of orchestrating a scheme to oust Kılıçdaroğlu. Kılıçdaroğlu lost to Özel in a November 2023 interparty election and since taking office, political pundits have been claiming that Imamoğlu was secretly controlling the decision-making processes within the party.
As he took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves during his speech, Imamoğlu told the enthusiastic crowd that he said he never wore his jacket "after May 6," referring to his past election win and turning to a phrase Turkish politicians often use to imply they are hard-working. "We will never wear it until we are in power in Türkiye," he said as he pointed to Özgür Özel calmly listening to his speech. The opposition bloc once favored Imamoğlu to run against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the May elections. Then, he and Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş were proposed as vice president candidates if the bloc would win the election. However, the May defeat dealt a blow to the opposition’s ambitions, adding more than a dozen losses of the CHP against the AK Party in the past two decades. Some political pundits view Imamoğlu as a potential presidential contender in the next presidential elections. Indeed, some among the crowd chanted "Government! Government!" as Imamoğlu uttered those words, not hiding their support for Imamoğlu as a presidential candidate in the 2028 elections.
Though municipal and general elections are, in a way, intertwined in Turkish politics (with one influencing the other in terms of voters’ choice), Imamoğlu’s win was a surprise for the AK Party in 2019 after it retained the seat of mayor in the city for years. But support for Imamoğlu is largely tied to support for the CHP mayor from other opposition parties, which rallied voters for the CHP candidate in 2019.
As for the AK Party, it will announce its Istanbul candidate on Sunday with a major event. Previously, it was reported that the party would unveil its candidate on Jan. 15, a significant date for Erdoğan, who was nominated on that day years ago for the same seat. His successful tenure as Istanbul mayor boosted Erdoğan’s political career. Unlike Imamoğlu’s candidacy, which was an open secret for many, the AK Party’s candidate is solely based on rumors from political pundits and journalists. Among the potential contenders are former Minister of Environment and Urban Planning Murat Kurum, incumbent mayor of Istanbul’s Esenler district Tevfik Göksu and Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, who was assigned to his current job after serving as Istanbul governor. But Erdoğan told journalists on Thursday that they might be "in for a surprise."