, seeks to bring Istanbul back under his party’s control in a showdown with his last major challenger, the city’s incumbent mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu.
Erdoğan attended prayers on the eve of the vote at the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, a highly symbolic former Byzantine church that was converted back into a mosque under his rule after decades as a museum. The mayor’s campaign for a second term has proved challenging. Those with knowledge of campaign spending estimate that Erdoğan’s Justice and Development party has outspent Imamoğlu and the CHP in Istanbul by at least three to one in an effort to retake the city, which accounts for approximately a third of the country’s GDP.
However, some of Kurum’s recent jabs at İmamoğlu have backfired, notably his decision to tell the latter that he should “go and manage a meatball shop”, in reference to a popular Turkish staple.