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A digital bilboard displays a picture of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and a slogan: “The nation is standing up for its will”, on the day Imamoglu was jailed as part of a corruption investigation, in Istanbul, Turkey, on Sunday, March 23, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
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Istanbul’s embattled Ekrem Imamoglu was officially nominated as a presidential candidate by the opposition CHP party for the 2028 elections, a party spokesman told AFP on Monday.
The Republican People’s Party (CHP) — the main opposition party and the second largest party in parliament — held a primary election on Sunday (March 23, 2025), at which the only candidate was Imamoglu, the main political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Mr. Imamoglu has been arrested, interrogated, jailed and stripped of his mayorship in less than a week following a graft and terror probe that the opposition has slammed as a political “coup.”
The formal arrest came as more than 1.5 million members of the opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, began holding a primary presidential election to endorse Imamoglu as its presidential candidate. With Imamoglu as the sole candidate, the primary — announced last month — was largely a symbolic show of support.
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Mr. Imamoglu was elected mayor of Turkey’s largest city in March 2019, in a major blow to Erdogan and the president’s Justice and Development Party, which had controlled Istanbul for a quarter-century. Erdogan’s party pushed to void the municipal election results in the city of 16 million, alleging irregularities.
Published – March 24, 2025 04:54 pm IST
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Jailed Istanbul mayor declared opposition presidential candidate, says party spokesperson
