CHP’s Istanbul mayoral candidate İmamoğlu asks President Erdoğan to vote for him in local polls

ANKARA

Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul’s Beylikdüzü district, has asked President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to vote for him in his mayoral bid for the country’s largest province during a meeting at the Presidential Complex in the capital Ankara.

“I asked for his [Erdoğan’s] vote [during the closed-door meeting], and he smiled. Now he has two titles, president and the Justice and Development Party’s [AKP] chair. ‘I know it is hard, but I seek your vote [from title] as president,’ I told him,” İmamoğlu, the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) mayoral candidate for Istanbul, told reporters on Jan. 10 following a 50-minute closed-door meeting with Erdoğan.

“It was a nice chat. It was a meeting during which we talked about Istanbul and I listened to advices and suggestions regarding Istanbul. He made precious anecdotes. Our wish is to start a new period with the least amount of mistakes or no mistakes at all. It was a helpful meeting,” the CHP candidate said.

İmamoğlu also said that he conveyed the CHP’s concerns over Istanbul’s high-rise housing architecture. “We came to a consensus that Istanbul needs a transformation [regarding this issue],” he said.

“We also had a chat about [our wishes] how the [March 31] local elections should be held in a very just, respectful, and refined way,” he said.

İmamoğlu also told reporters that he plans to visit CHP chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and Deniz Baykal, former chair of the party, during his Ankara visit.