Nathan Shachar: Imamoglu sailing up as Erdogan's naturlige opponent

" I have not seen people so happy in a long time, they are dancing in the streets. Imamoglu is an amazing person, maybe this is the beginning to better times, said Turkey's Swedish singer Zülfü Livaneli to the DN.

For Imamoglu, this is a double win; on the other, the election victory, partly the regime's decision to back down, despite the last few days increasingly apparent motion of an Istanbul-choice ”must” be done. Not many times during the AKP's almost two decades at the helm, the party has refrained from exercising their power in such a situation.

Imamoglu up as Erdogan's naturlige contender in the next presidential election, provided he plays his cards well. Istanbul is erdoğan's home and the AKP's cash cow, and it statsbärande the party does not lack the opportunities to put a spanner in the works for Imamoglu.

Imamoglu has shown good political flair during the crisis, he has talked about reconciliation and to heal the wounds that emerged between the country's different groups. On Tuesday, during a memorial service for former president Turgut Özals the tomb, he went up to his rival in the election, the AKP, Binali Yildirim, and shook his hand with warmth. The regime's angry tirade against him, and the sudden retreat, put his success into even sharper relief.

Turkey-the connoisseur Halil Karaveli says to dagens nyheter:

– Imamoglu reach out to broad groups of the electorate. He is a center-högerman that naturally reaches out to the conservative; he is well liked by the högernationalister but he has also received kurdish votes. An optimal starting point for the future.

and Devlet Bahceli, his högernationalistiske partner, not run of the election authority? When they summarized what was at stake, they realized that a ”theft” of Istanbulvalet would play the critics in their hands, both the domestic and the foreign. The regime is authoritarian, has neutralized the judicial apparatus, the parliament and the press, and discriminate against opposition parties difficult. But the actual counting of the ballots still have in most places been done according to the rules. Violates the the border so solkas the regime's image down just then to do anything to patch up relations with the united states and the EUROPEAN union and attract foreign investors to the country.