It was Wednesday that Istanbul’s popular mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested in a dawn raid. He is accused by the authorities of, among other things, supporting a terrorist organization and of corruption, which he himself rejects. Imamoglu belongs to the old Power Party Republican People’s Party (CHP) and as likely presidential candidate he is identified as authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s worst rival for the next election. On Sunday, CHP holds a primary election to appoint its presidential candidate. The voting started early in the morning and is expected to last until 15 o’clock, reports CNN Turk. Over 1.75 million party members have the opportunity to vote. But with the hope of getting even greater support for the arrested mayor, the party has also opened the election for all Turkish citizens. Although President Erdogan issued a demonstration ban, protests with hundreds of thousands of participants have shaken the country since the Imamoglu is arrested.
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