Türkiye: Opposition party chooses jailed Imamoglu as presidential candidate to challenge Erdogan

Members of Türkiye's main opposition party on Sunday nominated former Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu as their presidential candidate, despite his formal arrest and imprisonment earlier in the day.

Ozgur Ozel, leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP), said that 1.6 million of the party's 1.7 million members voted for Imamoglu as their candidate in the upcoming presidential election.

Ozil added that millions of people also cast symbolic votes for İmamoğlu at ballot boxes set up across the country under the name "solidarity" ballot boxes, in addition to the official vote of party members.

The vote was seen as a measure of Imamoglu's popularity among all Turks, not just party followers and those living in Istanbul.

Ozil said that with just over half of the Solidarity ballot boxes counted, Imamoglu had already received more than 13 million symbolic votes from non-CHP members. Turkey has a population of 85.6 million.

Imamoglu, 53, is widely seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main rival.

İmamoğlu was arrested on Wednesday as part of investigations into corruption and terrorism, and has since been held in pretrial detention on corruption charges.

Imamoglu denies the charges against him, accusing the government of using the case to remove a political opponent.

On Sunday, the Interior Ministry stripped Imamoglu of his duties as mayor of Istanbul. It remains unclear whether the government will appoint a new official to manage the megacity, which straddles Europe and Asia.

Source: German