Istanbul Mayor and presidential hopeful Ekrem İmamoğlu has been sentenced to 2 years and 7 months in prison and is possibly facing a political ban for ‘’insulting public officials’’.
The High Election Council of Turkey took Imamoğlu to court for calling them fools after the 2019 local elections.In 2019, the ballots cast at the Istanbul Mayoral elections were annulled and thrown out by the High Election Council when Imamoğlu secured a narrow victory against AKP candidate Binali Yıldırım. İmamoğlu went on to win the repeat election with an almost 10-point margin.
On 30th of November, 2019 Imamoglu gave a speech in Strasbourg, France at an event of the European Council. During his speech İmamoğlu blamed the AKP government for misconduct and claimed that Erdoğan was trying to win the Istanbul election with the help of the High Election Council. 4 days later Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu responded through media and said ‘’ To the fool who is rating on Turkey to the European Council, this nation will make you pay for it.’’ Imamoğlu then responded and said the only fools were the ones who annulled the election results.
During the last hearing, Imamoglu called on his supporters to gather in Saraçhane. Thousands flocked to the city hall in support of İmamoğlu. İYİP head Meral Akşener also gave a speech in support of İmamoğlu, reminding Erdoğan of his similar path to Beştepe Palace.
İmamoğlu will keep his mayoral seat and will be eligible for election until the final decision of the appeal court.
