Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has been arrested on corruption charges, received more than 14.8 million votes in the preliminary election for a presidential candidate, Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Ozgur Özel said on Monday.
According to Özel, 1.67 million people out of the party’s 1.75 million members took part in the voting, but “this is an internal party figure.” He also noted that it was decided to “set up a solidarity ballot box.”
Özel also claimed:
“At the moment, although 2,621 ballot boxes had not been counted or entered into the system when I arrived here, the total number of votes cast in solidarity ballot boxes is 13.2 million.The votes received by Ekrem İmamoğlu exceeded 14.85 million.”
According to NTV, demonstrators gathered in Istanbul’s Saracihan neighbourhood to protest against Imamoglu’s arrest and removal from office. İmamoğlu said on X that the CHP presidential primaries saw a record turnout. He wrote:
“Fifteen million of our citizens voted. Tens of millions of people in this country suffering from government tyranny, a ruined economy, lack of merit and lawlessness rushed to the polls. “I’ve had enough,” they told [republican President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan.”
The arrested mayor sent greetings to “the millions of people who are shouting in Saraccan and in squares all over my country.” With the elections, he said, “the people will give this government a slap in the face that it will not forget.”
On Sunday, Turkish media reported that İmamoğlu, who was detained a few days ago, was arrested by court order and accused of running a criminal organisation and bribery. Large-scale protests broke out in Turkey, and Erdogan said the opposition was exerting political pressure on the police and the court.
