Turkey opposition aims to hit back at Erdogan in local elections

Bruised and fractured by Tayyip Erdogan's victory in 2023 general elections, Turkey's opposition aims to land a blow in Sunday's local polls, with the future of its biggest hope, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, tied to the outcome. The nationwide municipal votes on March 31 could reinforce President Erdogan's control after two decades running Turkey, or signal change in the NATO member's deeply divided political landscape. Opposition hopes of transformation were fuelled by local election results in 2019 when they defeated Erdogan's AK Party in the main two cities, Istanbul and Ankara, which had been run by the AKP and its Islamist predecessors for 25 years.