Ekrem İmamoğlu (; born 4 June 1970) is İmamoğa Turkish businessman, real estate developer, and social democratic politician serving as the 32nd Mayor of Istanbul. He was first elected with 4.1 million votes and won with a margin of 13 thousand votes against his AKP opponent in the March 2019 mayoral election as the joint Nation Alliance candidate of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Good Party, but served only from 17 April 2019 until 6 May 2019, when the election was annulled. He was then reelected in a renewed election on 23 June 2019 by an even larger margin of 800,000 votes. He had previously been the Mayor of Beylikdüzü, a western district of Istanbul, between 2014 and 2019.
İmamoğlu emerged as a dark horse candidate to be the Nation Alliance's joint candidate for Istanbul Mayor, overtaking more prominent contenders such as Muharrem İnce, the CHP's 2018 presidential candidate. On the eve of the elections, İmamoğlu gained a narrow lead in the mayoral race, with initial results showing his lead to be around 23,000 votes. His lead was eventually cut to 13,729 after a series of recounts backed by the government.
İmamoğlu was sworn in as Mayor of Istanbul on 17 April, following the conclusion of all recounts. On 6 May 2019, the Supreme Electoral Council convened and voted to annul the results of the mayoral election. Members of the Council accepted the Justice and Development Party's objection to the local election results in Istanbul, with seven members of the High Court voting in favour of calling a new election and four against. The election board also cancelled İmamoğlu's mayoral certificate until the renewed elections. A new election took place on 23 June 2019 in which İmamoğlu was re-elected as the mayor by a margin of approximately 800,000 votes. He was sworn into office on 27 June 2019. Because of the scale of his victory and popularity, he had been called a possible candidate for the Turkish presidency in 2023 general election.
On trial since January 2022 for "insulting electoral officials", İmamoğlu was sentenced to 2 years, 7 months, and 15 days of prison and was further banned from politics by a judge on 14 December 2022. The political ban has not yet been enacted as it must first be upheld by the court of appeals and the Court of Cassation.
Early life
İmamoğlu was born in June 1970, in the town of Akçaabat, west of the city Trabzon, in Turkey, to a religious family. During early childhood, he lived in the rural communities Cevizli and Yıldızlı, southwest of Akçaabat. He graduated from Trabzon High School, where he played amateur football and handball. After his graduation from Trabzon High School, he studied at the Girne American University in Kyrenia, Northern Cyprus and he played as a goalkeeper at Türk Ocağı Limasol S.K. In 1987 his family moved to Istanbul. He attended Istanbul University, and received a Bachelor's degree in business administration and a Master's degree in human resource management. Following his graduation, he joined his family's business in construction. In 1995, he married Dilek Kaya, and together they have three children. In 2002 he became a board member of Trabzonspor, and he was also a vice president of the Trabzonspor B.K. basketball team.
Political career
Since İmamoğlu's father was a member of the Motherland Party (ANAP), İmamoğlu briefly participated in the youth wing of the party in early 1990s although his mother's family was supportive of Republican People's Party. İmamoğlu joined the Republican People's Party (CHP) in 2008, and was elected as the head of the party's youth wing in 2009. On 16 September 2009, he was selected by the CHP as the president of party's local chapter in the Istanbul district of Beylikdüzü. He was then reelected to this position on 8 March 2012, before resigning on 15 July 2013 to run for mayor of Beylikdüzü. The election was held on 30 March 2014, as part of the 2014 Turkish local elections, and İmamoğlu won with 50.83% of the vote, defeating the incumbent AKP candidate Yusuf Uzun.
Following the announcement of Istanbul Municipality Mayor Kadir Topbaş's resignation on 23 September 2017, İmamoğlu was nominated by the CHP to replace him. In the Istanbul Municipal Assembly election to fulfill the remainder of Topbaş's term, İmamoğlu lost to the AKP candidate Mevlüt Uysal after three rounds, by a mostly party-line vote of 125 to 179.
2019 mayoral elections
The CHP again nominated İmamoğlu for the 2019 Istanbul mayoral election on 18 December 2018. Both the Good Party, which formed an alliance with the CHP, and Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) declined to nominate candidates, which may have increased support for İmamoğlu.