The two main candidates for the metropolitan municipality of Istanbul, in today’s municipal elections in Turkey, exercised their right to vote, the current mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and the chosen one of President Erdogan, Murat Kurum.

Ekrem Imamoglu voted in the Beyliktnuzo district, where he was mayor before being elected in 2019 as head of the Istanbul municipality.

After exercising his right to vote, Ekrem Imamoglu appeared emotional, saying: “Today is an emotional day for me, because it is the moment of farewell and reconciliation for five years of work. I hope that our people will give me this feeling of reconciliation. I would like to say that I act without separating any constituency from another and without putting partisanship in the foreground. If I have hurt someone’s heart, I apologize and ask them to forgive me. We believe we did the best we could.”

He also asked citizens to protect the ballot box and their vote: “Voting is a sacred right in our democracy. This right must be protected. The rules regarding the protection of this right are clear, but unfortunately, since there are deficiencies in this matter in Turkey, this matter is done in cooperation with the citizens.”

Earlier, his opponent Murat Kurum had voted, who after exercising his right to vote declared that today the sun rises in Istanbul.

“God willing, we will take the first step to address the earthquake risk and traffic problems. On March 31, the sun will rise,” he said, expressing his belief that today will be a day of celebration for all citizens of Istanbul and thanked President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his trust.

Before going to vote, Murat Kurum visited a mosque to pray, and related photos circulated on social media and were published in pro-government media. Last night, moreover, he prayed together with Erdogan in Hagia Sophia.

If Kurum wins, Erdoğan gets political displacement to further solidify his power, perhaps with a Constitutional change. If he loses, he gains for the first time a strong opponent from the opposition side, if of course the internal strife in Ekrem Imamoglu’s People’s Republican Party allows it.

Erdogan has taken the burden of the election campaign personally. In the last 48 hours alone, he organized six pre-election rallies, all in Istanbul. The same is done by his ministers who “plowed” Istanbul in the last week before the elections, which however led to the obscurity of Murat Kurum, who is not particularly charismatic anyway.