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In less than a week, Sunday, June 23, the ten and a half million voters in Istanbul will be called to elect their mayor. The parties replay the municipality of March 31, which had been canceled at the request of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on the pretext of irregularities. Istanbul's two mayoral candidates clashed Sunday night, June 16, in a television debate. A first for 17 years.
With our correspondent in Istanbul, Anne Andlauer
The main opposition candidate, Ekrem Imamoglu hopes to win a second time against that of power, Binali Yildirim. The two men clashed on Sunday night during a live television debate. The event itself was exceptional: it was 17 years that Recep Tayyip Erdogan had not given the green light to such a debate.
A political debate without any real winners or losers, without an unexpected or truly striking sequence, but which at least had the merit of existing and imposing itself in Turkish homes, since it was broadcast by all major channels.
The opposition candidate, Ekrem Imamoglu, however, appeared more prepared or more comfortable than his rival. More offensive, too, especially when it came to go back at length on the cancellation of the March 31 poll and the issue of Sunday's vote:
" This new election is a struggle for democracy. It is a fight against those who have stolen our right ... against those who stole the right of 16 million of our fellow citizens. It's a struggle to offer Istanbul a clean management , "said Ekrem Imamoglu.
As for former prime minister Binali Yildirim, he has sought to bring back the debate about his party's achievements in Istanbul over the last 25 years, and his campaign promises. But the moderator did not resist asking him if he would accept the verdict of the polls, this time.
" The result of a ballot must be accepted ... but a ballot is also a legal process. So if the counting of the ballots is to be challenged again, it will be. But perhaps this time, it will not be us, but Mr. Imamoglou who will contest. .., "said Binali Yildirim.
Whether or not it has an impact on the results of June 23, this long debate of three hours was no less historic, since unpublished for almost 20 years. And for many Turkish channels, it was the first time in many years that an opposition member was given such airtime.