Turkey heads to local elections as Erdogan seeks to avenge defeat

ISTANBUL, Mar 24: Turks will vote next Sunday in local elections as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, buoyed by a strong showing in last years general elections, sets his sights on winning back Istanbul.

The secular opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) seized back control of the city -- Turkeys economic powerhouse -- for the first time since before Erdogan ruled it as mayor in the 1990s in watershed 2019 polls.

That vote also saw the opposition win back the capital Ankara and keep power in the crucial Aegean port city of Izmir, shattering Erdogans image of political invincibility.
Erdogan has entrusted his former environment minister Murat Kurum to run for mayor of Istanbul in the March 31 polls as he looks to avenge the worst political defeat of his two-decade rule when CHP arch rival Ekrem Imamoglu took the town hall.    —AFP