Turkey’s opposition in electoral battle to keep hold of major cities
Al Jazeera
CHP has control of local government in Istanbul and Ankara, but may find it hard to keep hold of them in March 31 vote.
Istanbul, Turkey – Across much of the world, local elections generate little interest beyond the town hall but in Turkey, voting for officials ranging from metropolitan mayors to neighbourhood representatives grips the nation for weeks ahead of polling day.
Despite having turned out for presidential and parliamentary polls only 10 months ago, Turkish television and newspapers have been full of news, opinion and debate on the March 31 local vote.
Across the country, voters will elect more than 23,000 officials but most attention will be on the mayors picked to run Turkey’s 30 largest cities.
This is especially true in Istanbul, the country’s most populous city and its economic powerhouse, where an opposition victory in 2019 was seen as a setback in President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s largely flawless electoral record.
Victory for the Republican People’s Party (CHP) in Istanbul five years ago ended the city’s 25 years of rule by Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and its conservative predecessors.
