Winner at Istanbul mayoral election Ekrem Imamoglu to claim for higher positions: expert

The mayoral election in Istanbul are very important political indicator which forecast the further political processes, expert in Turkish affairs Ruben Melkonyan told Aysor.am, referring to the victory of opposition in mayoral elections in Istanbul and the lose of the party headed by the president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

With nearly all ballots counted, main opposition party candidate Ekrem Imamoglu had a lead of 775,000 votes, a huge increase on the margin of 13,000 he achieved in the earlier election. That victory in March was annulled after the AKP alleged irregularities.

“This election has many sub-layers. Istanbul’s population reaches 15 million, it is a center of many infrastructures and business. It is even said that who wins in Istanbul may win in whole Turkey. President Erdogan entered politics by becoming mayor of Istanbul. His political success is agreed with the first period of his activity,” the expert said.

Melkomyan said the loss of Erdogan’s party candidate showed that the authorities are in staff stagnation.

“The bankruptcy of staff existing inside Turkey's ruling party is agreed with the circumstance that for years Erdogan neutralized all the possible competitors emptying own party. Thanks to it this time the opposition not only succeeded in using new methods but offering “fresh” candidate. This creates a healthier picture regarding the change of political generation. With greater probability Ekrem Imamoglu may not restrict himself with the post of Istanbul mayor only and strive for higher posts claiming even the post of Turkey’s president,” Melkonyan said.

The expert also draw the attention on the circumstance that Erdogan could but did not rig the results of election being afraid of post-electoral developments.

“The public is tired of 18-year-old unchanged ruling force and time for fresh power has come. Turkey needs change of political generation,” the expert said.

Turkey's ruling AK Party has lost control of Istanbul after a re-run of the city's mayoral election, delivering a stinging blow to President Erdogan.