Meet the Turkish mayor who could challenge Erdogan

STORY: Newly re-elected Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu has emerged as the main challenger to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's reign.

After clinching a comfortable victory in Sunday's (March 31) mayoral elections, the affable former businessman is a potential future president in the view of many analysts.

Celebrating his victory, Imamoglu said the nation had sent a message to Erdogan and other officials.

"The nation itself gives the order and the instructions, not just one person. Officials receive instructions from the nation, the period of one-man rule is over as of today. It is done."

But in some ways, Imamoglu is following in the footsteps of Erdogan, who ran Istanbul himself in the 1990s.

They share a strong ability to appeal to voters.

Both men also have family roots in the eastern Black Sea region.

Both their political careers have been impeded by Turkey's courts.

And both were keen footballers in their youth, too.

But there are crucial differences.

Erdogan entered politics with the Islamist AKP party and has reshaped the secular state with his pious vision since taking the reins in 2002.

Imamoglu is from the staunchly secular Republican People's Party or CHP.

His success is that he was able to win over more conservative voters.

Turkey's judiciary, civil rights and press freedoms have eroded on Erdogan's watch, critics say - charges the government denies.

This was Vladimir Prebilic of the Council of Europe after they observed Sunday's elections.

"More needs to be done to ensure a political and media environment where there is a genuine freedom of expression and a reasonable and well-implemented framework overseen by an independent judiciary."

Imamoglu himself has faced judicial woes.

After his 2019 Istanbul win, a judge sentenced him to 2-1/2 years in prison, imposing a political ban for insulting public officials.

The appeals court is yet to rule on the case.

Last year, another court opened a case against him on a charge of tender rigging that carries a sentence of three to seven years.

Erdogan's critics see the cases as an attempt to hold Imamoglu back, which the president and AKP deny.

While Erdogan was briefly jailed in the late 90s` for reciting a poem that a court ruled incited religious hatred.

Erdogan said the election defeat was a turning-point and promised the party would self-critique.

He bounced back to win re-election as president last year despite widespread economic strains in Turkey, defying many polls.

But Imamoglu has now struck a new blow for the opposition.