Re-election increases Imamoglu’s popularity in Turkey

Doaa Emam

Hilar Daşdemir, Head of Optimar Research, shared the results of a survey on the election of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) to be renewed on 23 June.

Opinion polls showed opposition candidate Ekrem Imamoglu pulling ahead of his rival from Turkey’s ruling party in his bid to recapture the post of Istanbul mayor.

Daşdemir revealed that Imamoglu led by four points at 52% of the vote while Binali Yildirim claimed 48.2% of the vote.

’I completely believe that 16 million people in Istanbul or a large part of them will not let down Ekrem Imamoglu. This is what we see and notice because there’s no legal logic for the rerun,’’ the 48 year-old- candidate said.

İmamoğlu also said the Istanbul elections represented the presence of democracy in Turkey and the CHP is in a struggle to maintain democracy in the country.

‘’If this struggle ceases to exist so will parties and political life,’’ the CHP candidate added.

İmamoğlu narrowly won control of Turkey’s biggest city and economic powerhouse on March 31, seemingly ending the 25-year rule over the city of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).

He also spoke about the issue of Syrian refuges in Turkey, pointing out that the Turkish administration has been wrongly managing the situation, because no one can claim that Turkey helped every single Syrian family, because help was only provided to a very limited number of refugees.