Istanbul Mayor İmamoğlu beats AKP’s candidate Kurum in 32 districts in municipal election
In the March 31st local elections, Ekrem İmamoğlu, the incumbent candidate for Istanbul mayorship from the opposition CHP, received more votes than Murat Kurum, the candidate from the ruling AKP, in 32 out of 39 districts, including AKP strongholds. İmamoğlu also beat Kurum in some districts where AKP’s district mayoral candidate won the election.
Duvar English
As the “red wave” shock of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) in the March 31st local elections still continues, Turkey’s megacity Istanbul was not exempt from the same shock.
The CHP won 26 district municipalities in Istanbul, out of 39, which was 14 in the 2019 local elections. 12 of the 24 district municipalities previously held by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) were won by the CHP, including Bayrampaşa, Beykoz, Beyoğlu, Çatalca, Çekmeköy, Eyüpsultan, Gaziosmanpaşa, Sancaktepe, Şile, Silivri, Tuzla and Üsküdar.
On the metropolitan municipality level, CHP’s incumbent candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu beat AKP’s candidate, former Environment Minister Murat Kurum by more than 1 million votes.
Accordingly, İmamoğlu received the highest vote share in Kadıköy district with 81.02 percent, whereas the lowest in Sultanbeyli with 31.84 percent.
He also received higher votes than the CHP district mayors in 24 districts, except for Sancaktepe, and Şile.
In some of the districts won by the AKP, such as Fatih, Kağıthane, Bahçelievler, Ümraniye, and Zeytinburnu, İmamoğlu received more votes than Kurum, showing the former’s popularity, online news outlet Medyascope reported on April 8.
In 32 of Istanbul's 39 districts, İmamoğlu received more votes than AKP's candidate Kurum.