Imprisoned Istanbul mayor and Erdogan rival Ekrem Imamoglu named presidential candidate

They had written in German and Turkish

It's very worrying. This is what Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M) said about the arrest in Turkey of President Erdogan's main challenger, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.

The mass demonstrations against the imprisonment of Ekrem Imamoğlu and his dismissal as Istanbul's mayor continued on Monday. More than 1,000 demonstrators have been arrested so far. On Sunday, the opposition party CHP elected Imamoğlu, who is considered the most promising competitor of long-term President Erdoğan, as its candidate for the presidential election in 2028.

In Turkey, elections have always been considered important, which is why the imprisonment of a rival to the incumbent president has enraged the people.

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Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu has been officially nominated by Turkish main opposition party as its candidate for the 2028 Turkish presidential election, just one day after being removed from office by the Interior Ministry and less than a week after his arrest on multiple criminal charges. The nomination was confirmed during a Republican People’s Party (CHP) primary held on Sunday, as İmamoğlu remains in detention while awaiting legal proceedin…

Will Erdogan's Power Grab Silence the Voice of the People in Turkey?

When opposition leader Ekrem Imamoglu was first elected mayor of Istanbul in 2019, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, claimed his victory was a fraud and ordered a rerun. Imamoglu then won the do-over by a wider margin, and his party, Turkey’s main opposition, the CHP, has since won in nearly every major Turkish city.Erdogan is now back for another round of political hardball. Imamoglu was formally arrested on corruption allegations on Su…