23 Mar, 20:53

Opposition nominates Imamoglu as Turkey's presidential candidate

Chairman of Turkey's opposition Republican People's Party Ozgur Ozel also called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to hold early presidential elections

ANKARA, March 23. /TASS/. Chairman of Turkey's opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Ozgur Ozel, stated that nearly 15 million citizens nominated the arrested Istanbul Mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, as the party's presidential candidate during the primaries.

During his speech in Istanbul, Ozel also called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to hold early presidential elections and face Imamoglu in the contest.

"Today, 1,653 million members of our party voted for the future president of our country, Ekrem Imamoglu. This is the strongest response to the current coup attempt. We also invited citizens to come to our solidarity ballot boxes and vote. We received 13.21 million votes for future President Ekrem. In total, he received more than 14.85 million votes," the CHP chief said.

Ozel pointed out that "the results of the primaries questioned Erdogan's legitimacy" and "made early elections inevitable." "We are challenging you (Erdogan - TASS) from this square. If you do not let my candidate Imamoglu leave because of fear, we will all compete with you in the elections," he said.

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Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan

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