CHP's İmamoğlu elected for Türkiye's top municipal role

ANKARA

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has been elected chair of the country’s top municipal organization representing local governments nationwide.

İmamoğlu secured the position with 515 votes, defeating Ahmet Metin Genç, the Trabzon mayor from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), who received 250 votes.

Before the election on June 5, the CHP proposed to other parties a joint authority at the Union of Municipalities of Türkiye (TBB), suggesting that it share administrative roles with AKP, Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and New Welfare Party (YRP).

However, the AKP and its ally MHP rejected the joint list offer. As a result, the newly formed 14-member council includes ten members from the CHP and four from the other opposition parties.

The CHP representatives in the TBB board are Ayşe Ünlüce, Özlem Çerçioğlu, Vahap Seçer, Abdurrahman Tutdere, Filiz Gencan Akın, Bilgehan Erdem, Hasan Akgün, Filiz Ceritoğlu Sengel, Mesut Özarslan and Tahsin Erdem.

Other figures in the management include DEM Party's Diyarbakır Mayor Ayşe Serra Bucak and Mardin Mayor Ahmet Türk, İYİ Party's Nevşehir Mayor Rasim Arı and YRP's Şanlıurfa Mayor Mehmet Kasım Gülpınar.

Meanwhile, Adana Mayor Zeydan Karalar will serve as the body's first deputy chair. The reserve clerk members are Haymana Mayor Levent Koç and Arsuz Mayor Sami Üstün.

The recent nationwide local elections led a shift in the balance of power within the TBB, historically dominated by the AKP. In the March 31 polls, the CHP gained control of 35 provincial municipalities compared to the AKP's 24.