The current metropolitan mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, submitted today an official application to be a candidate for the main opposition party – the CHP (Republican People’s Party) – for President of Turkey in the next presidential elections, scheduled for 2028.
Turkish media sources reported that a total of 116 MPs signed in support of the candidacy of İmamoğlu ahead of the primary elections that the CHP will hold on 23 March to choose its candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, where that the current secretary general of the party, Özgür Özel, and the popular metropolitan mayor of Ankara, Mansur Yavaş, have already said they will not stand for.
Today, Friday, İmamoğlu has reportedly submitted his official application to the CHP through his legal representative, after which he issued a statement: ‘Today I have taken the first step towards a new beginning and submitted my official application to become a presidential candidate. Together we will protect our country, our unity, our solidarity and the goal of a strong Turkey,’ said the mayor of Istanbul.
Although any of the 1.6 million members of the CHP party can theoretically present their candidacy in the primaries before the deadline on 28 February, in practice only those who have the written endorsement of at least 20 CHP deputies can do so.
İmamoğlu could face Erdoğan in 2028
Apart from his own personal political ambitions, with his candidacy İmamoğlu could be seeking some kind of immunity before the trial he faces next April in which he faces a possible sentence of up to 7 years and 4 months in prison and disqualification from holding any public office post; all because of statements he made on 20 January in which he criticised chief prosecutor Akın Gürlek for the investigation opened against the CHP youth leader, Cem Aydın: statements which, according to the prosecution, constitute a crime by threatening and pressuring the prosecutor and an attempt to interfere in the judicial system.
If the current mayor of Istanbul’s candidacy is victorious in the CHP primaries next month, İmamoğlu could face Erdoğan in the 2028 Turkish presidential elections; although according to the Turkish constitution the current president cannot stand for a third term, last January Erdoğan himself and his AKP party left the door open to the possibility that he could run for president again, although to do so he would have to seek support from other parties to reform the constitution.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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