Evaluating the İYİ Party’s decision to field their own mayoral candidates in 81 provinces, CHP Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu said that forming an alliance “is necessary.” Published on 15th of September 2023 in Duvar English.
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu on Sept. 14 stated that forming an alliance in the 2024 local elections « is necessary, » referring to the opposition İYİ (Good) Party’s decision to nominate their own candidates in 81 provinces.
Answering the questions of the journalists after a groundbreaking ceremony in Istanbul’s Bahçelievler district, İmamoğlu said “I still say that (forming an) alliance is necessary, that the alliance process is a reality in Turkey and that it should be open to negotiation. Frankly, I think that the negotiation is not closed based on the description (the İYİ Party) made yesterday.”
İmamoğlu, from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), said “I am someone who knows that the most important element is social alliance and that especially the opposition base can achieve results with a strong alliance model. A completely different struggle for democracy was fought and won with the establishment of a strong Istanbul alliance (in the 2019 local elections).”
İmamoğlu added that “In its strongest form, I think that negotiations and dialogue with Meral Akşener, İYİ Party and İYİ Party executives can be carried out and managed in a very healthy way. Of course, this has mutual requirements.”
Following their General Administrative Board (GİK) meeting, İYİ Party Spokesperson Kürşad Zorlu on Sept. 13 announced that they will field their own candidates in 81 provinces in the 2024 local elections.
İmamoğlu has also announced that he will run again in the 2024 elections in his municipality.
In the 2019 local elections, the İYİ Party and opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) did not field mayoral candidates for Istanbul and Ankara metropolitan municipalities, paving the way for the CHP candidates, Ekrem İmamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş, to assume the mayorships against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
İmamoğlu and Yavaş were the first opposition mayors who garnered enough votes in 2019 to gain mayorship in Istanbul and capital Ankara after a long time.
After the general elections held in 2023, in which the İYİ Party ran with the Nation Alliance, the party started to oppose the alliance system on the grounds that it pushed back the party’s identity.