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The newly elected Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, seems to be the main contender for the "kingdom" of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
After winning and retaining his position in Sunday's municipal elections based on a large majority of the votes counted, 53-year-old Imamoglu is seen by many analysts as a potential future president.
He has a lot in common with Erdogan: both have led Istanbul, have roots in the eastern Black Sea region. In their youth, both were also avid soccer players, according to Reuters.
"Voters sent a message directly to Erdogan," Imamoglu said after the election.
But while they share a strong ability to attract voters, they differ when it comes to politics. Imamoglu, a beloved former businessman, has said himself: "our ideas are mostly opposites."
Erdogan entered politics with an Islamist party and has reshaped the secular state with his pious vision since taking the reins in 2002.
Unlike him, Imamoglu is from the secularist Republican People's Party (CHP), joining in 2008 and became its mayor in Istanbul's Beylikduzu.
He proved that in 2019, handing Erdogan's party (AKP) its biggest defeat in two decades, defeating its candidate not once, but twice.
A court overturned his victory in March of that year, only for him to win by a larger margin in a runoff election in June.
Both men have a strong ability to attract voters, but when it comes to politics they are far apart. Imamoglu himself, a former businessman married with three children, said: "Our ideas with Erdogan are mostly opposite."
The mayor of Istanbul created a media image by running viral campaigns on social networks, which on the one hand showed his profile, on the other hand shook the patience of many voters.
Meanwhile, state media tried to portray him negatively. In January 2022, pro-government media was awash with surveillance camera images showing him dining with the British ambassador at a fish restaurant as Istanbul faced a storm.
His problems are compounded by the fact that Erdogan has taken credit for many of the major projects that have modernized Istanbul in recent years. /REUTERS
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