A few hours before the polls open for the municipal elections in Turkey, the focus is on the battle of Istanbul, where the current mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and the chosen one of President Erdogan, Murat Kurum, are competing.
It is widely believed that this is a duel between Erdogan and Imamoglu.
In a final move to impress the Islamist base of the electorate, Erdogan, accompanied by Kurum, prayed Saturday night at the Hagia Sophia.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and People’s Alliance Istanbul Municipality Mayoral Candidate Murat Kurum were welcomed with takbir sounds at the Hagia Sophia Mosque.
I hope God does not embarrass me pic.twitter.com/7qYO9JHvTP
— 🇹🇷 Mavi Vatan (@Patrie_Bleue) March 30, 2024
Erdogan has taken the burden of the election campaign personally. Only in the last 48 hours until today at 6:00 pm, when the ban on pre-election activities began, he organized six pre-election rallies, all in Istanbul. The same is done by his ministers who “plowed” Istanbul in the last week, which however led to the obscurity of Murat Kurum, who is not particularly charismatic anyway.
The latest polls showed a slight opening in favor of Imamoglu over Erdogan’s pick Murat Kurum, but the battle remains lopsided.
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