Istanbul, 24 March 2025 (dpa/MIA) - Members of Turkey's main opposition party on Sunday named former Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu as their presidential candidate, despite his formal arrest and jailing earlier in the day.

Özgür Özel, the leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP), said 1.6 million of the party's 1.7 million members cast their ballots in favour of İmamoğlu being their candidate for a future presidential election.

Özel added that millions of people also cast symbolic votes for İmamoğlu at so-called "solidarity" ballot boxes set up across the country alongside the official voting for party members.

This vote was seen as a measure of just how popular İmamoğlu is among all Turks, not just the party faithful and those living in Istanbul.>

With just over half of the solidarity ballot boxes counted, İmamoğlu had already received more than 13 million symbolic votes from non-CHP members, Özel said. Turkey's population stands at 85.6 million.

İmamoğlu, 53, is widely seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's main rival.

He was detained on Wednesday as part of corruption and terrorism investigations and has since been remanded in custody on the corruption charge. İmamoğlu denies the allegations, accusing the government of using the case to sideline a political rival.

On Sunday, the Interior Ministry stripped İmamoğlu of his mayoral duties. It remains unclear whether the government will appoint an administrator to run the sprawling metropolis that straddles Europe and Asia.

Photo: MIA archive