Recep Tayyip Erdogan hopes to recapture Istanbul

Turkey’s 61 million voters began voting on Sunday to elect their mayor. A local election with test value for the administration of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who wants to restart “National Treasure”, Istanbul. Offices were opened in two stages, first in the east, then an hour later, in the west of the country, including Istanbul and Ankara, from 7 hours, AFP correspondents noted.

At the age of 70, Recep Tayyip Erdogan threw all his stature as a politician into the campaign, plowing his country of 85 million inhabitants with candidates from his party, the AKP (Islamo-Conservative), until holding ‘four seats a day and sharing’. Iftar every evening, the meal to break the Ramadan fast.

He thus personally invested his candidate for Istanbul, Murat Kurum, a recalcitrant ex-minister, whose portrait usually appears attached to him on election banners.

Worrying about his city

His aim: to look like a favorite to oust outgoing mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the opposition figure who stole the country’s main and richest city and, in the event of his re-election on the shores of the Bosphorus, to overcome the humiliation of 2019. Taking over the state in 2028.

Again on Saturday, the day before the election, Recep Tayyip Erdogan held three meetings in Istanbul, the former Constantinople. “gem” And no “National Treasure”, of which he was mayor in the 90s before taking over. Once again he emphasized the shortcomings of Ekrem Imamoglu, whom he said he portrayed as an ambitious man who cared little for his city. “Part Time Mayor” Obsessed with the presidency.

“Istanbul has been left to its fate for the past five years. We wish to save it from disaster” He said before going to the Hagia Sophia mosque to pray. Over the weekend, the election gave the outgoing mayor an advantage. In May 2023, however, they predicted a defeat in the presidential election for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was nevertheless re-elected with 52% of the vote.

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Dispersed opposition

Unlike the 2019 municipal elections, this time the opposition is in a fragmented order: the CHP (Social Democracy), its main party, has not managed to get the support of other parties, whether in favor of Ekrem Imamoglu in Istanbul, or elsewhere. the country

The pro-Kurdish Dem Party, in particular, is going it alone at the risk of favoring the ruling party, itself threatened in places by the rise of the Islamist Yeniden Refah Party. However, the CHP wants to believe that: “We are going to achieve a great victory tomorrow, which will not be a defeat for anyone”Saturday assured party president Özgür Özel, passing through the western city of Izmir, which, like the capital Ankara, should remain with the opposition.

In Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu for his part made sure to stay on local issues, listing his achievements and things to come. In a country facing official inflation of 67% in 12 months and a devaluation of its currency (from 19 to 31 pounds to the dollar in a year), voters may be tempted to favor the head of state’s opponents. .

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For observers, the level of participation, traditionally high, will play a crucial role. Especially in Istanbul if voters turn out in small numbers to support Ekrem Imamoglu.

In large cities, Turkish voters will elect their mayor but also municipal councilors, district mayors and muhtars (neighborhood leaders). In Istanbul, ballot paper is approaching one meter in length. Offices will close at 7pm western and the first significant results are expected later in the day.