Erdoğan Critic İmamoğlu Confirms Run For 2nd Term As Istanbul Mayor

Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem İmamoğlu has confirmed that he will run for a second term in office in the upcoming local elections taking place on 31 March. İmamoğlu, from the main opposition centre-left Republican People's Party (CHP) won the mayoralty of Turkey's most populous city in 2019 from the national conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

• İmamoğlu (52) is on of Erdoğan's most vocal critics, and is viewed as a potential future presidential candidate for the CHP. He did not run for the CHP presidential nomination in the 2023 election, with a high court ruling holding up a conviction for 'insulting a public official' essentially ruling him out.
• In Mach 2019, İmamoğlu narrowly defeated the AKP candidate by 14k votes. However, following orders to re-run the election after allegations of "vote stealing", İmamoğlu widened his margin of victory to 800k votes.
• As noted by Bloomberg, "In March, Imamoglu’s task will be made harder by the loss of support of the right-wing opposition IYI Party, which had backed him in 2019 but now plans to field a separate candidate. Erdogan’s AK Party is expected to declare its candidate for Istanbul on Sunday."
• A loss for İmamoğlu would deal a significant blow to any presidential ambitions he may harbour, at least in the short term, while a second term could bolster his prospects of succeeding Erdoğan as president (the incumbent is term limited and barring any constitutional changes would not be eligible to run in 2028).