While there is 4 years until the next elections, the presidential race is already shaping up, with perennial president Erdogan likely to lead his party, if he can find a way around his lame-duck status. His two formidable rivals are CHP Istanbul and Ankara mayors Ekrem Imamoglu and Mansur Yavas.
Erdogan and his nationalist ally Bahceli plan to get around Erdogan’s eligibility by legislating a new constitution, which will grant the incumbent automatically another term. However, so far, except pro-Kurdish rights DEM no opposition party showed any interest in the project, meaning a new text will not be approved in the assembly. Another means of circumventing the proscription against running a third time may be early elections called by the assembly, for which the governing coalition needs the cooperation of main opposition party CHP. CHP has already declared that it shall support an early election bill if it is conducted by or before November 2025.
While jostling for Erdogan’s career continues, Erdogan is taking matters into his hand, allegedly instructing the judiciary to ban CHP mayor Imamoglu for the frivolous offense of “insulting election officials.” A lower court already sentenced him to 2 years and 7 months in prison as well as banning him from politics for 5 years.
Imamoglu has appealed the verdict. According to CHP sources, the timetable for the conclusion of the case will be clarified according to the political plan of the government, and the file, which has been waiting in the Court of Appeal for approximately 1.5 years, may be decided within the next 1-2 weeks, reported Ms. Ceren Bayar of Gazete Duvar.
CHP is planning to carry out a two-pronged strategy both legal and political, to protest Ekrem Imamoglu’s political ban.
CHP executives already formed a delegation and started visiting other opposition parties. CHP Group Deputy Chairman Gökhan Günaydın and CHP Deputy Chairman Gül Çiftçi first went to the DEM Party, İYİ Party and DEVA Party and discussed what kind of joint reaction they could give in case of a political ban on İmamoğlu. The current legal environment, what can be done specifically for this case, and how the struggle for democracy can be strengthened were discussed. The delegation will continue to visit other parties in the coming days. The replies of the a.m. parties is not mentioned in the Bayar article.
The CHP delegation also informed the representatives of the opposition parties about the actions and events they planned as a party in case the decision goes against İmamoğlu. It was noted that in such a situation, a large rally would be organized very quickly in Istanbul and events and actions demanding justice would be held in every province. It was stated that Özel would continue to organize rallies in various cities after the big rally and explain the ‘lawlessness’ of the AK Party regime.
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