The main opposition Republican People’s Party candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu won the mayoral election in Turkey’s financial powerhouse on March 31 by less than 14,000 votes out of nearly 9 million casts, corresponding to 0,16%. Turkey's top electoral board annulled the Istanbul vote early May ordered a rerun of the vote on June 23 following an appeal by the ruling AKP, citing fraud and irregularities at the ballot boxes.
A public opinion poll conducted by SONAR polling company shows that İmamoğlu extended his lead over 6%, giving him a confident edge against the AKP's mayoral candidate and former Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, according to T24.
Losing control of the municipality would be a major blow to the AKP, both financially, as lucrative contracts issued by the city to friendly companies have helped feed the Islamist party’s coffers, and to the prestige President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who launched his political career by becoming Istanbul mayor in 1994.
The two major candidates in the rerun election to become mayor of Turkey’s biggest city and the financial hub will hold a live television debate on Sunday.
Fox TV news anchor İsmail Küçükkaya will moderate the live debate, which will be available for all channels to broadcast.
Television debates between political leaders were a tradition in Turkey until the AKP came to power in 2002. Erdoğan has refused to participate in television programmes with his opponents for 17 years.