Ankara mayor announces intent to seek re-election

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Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş has announced his intention to run for re-election in the upcoming local elections in March.

Speaking at a Victory Day event yesterday, Yavaş said, "God willing, I want to continue being the mayor for everyone. I hope to participate in the election and be with you for another 5 years."

In the 2019 elections, Yavaş, the candidate of the main opposition CHP, succeeded in winning the election and ending the 25-year rule of the ruling AKP and its predecessors in the capital city. Yavaş received support not only from the CHP but also from its main ally, the Good (İYİ) Party, while the Kurdish-focused HDP provided implicit support by not putting forward its own candidate.

Following the opposition's defeat in the presidential and parliamentary elections in May, both the İYİ Parti and HDP had announced that they would field their own candidates in the local elections instead of supporting the main opposition party. However, İYİ Parti leader Meral Akşener left the door open for supporting the CHP in Ankara and İstanbul, saying, "We are not opposed to a joint candidate."

Considering the parties' levels of voter support, the scenario of these three parties supporting the same candidate seems to be the only feasible way for the opposition to maintain control over İstanbul and Ankara, which they won in the 2019 local elections.

Having roots in the ultranationalist MHP and a background as an activist and leader in the 1970s Grey Wolves, Yavaş was a member of the party from 1993 to 2013. He served as the mayor of Ankara's Beypazarı district between 1999 and 2009.

Between 2013 and 2016, he was active in the CHP and narrowly lost the 2014 local elections for Ankara mayor against the AKP's Melih Gökçek. Yavaş ran for mayot for the second time in the 2019 local elections and emerged as the winner. As a local leader with significant responsibilities during his tenure as mayor, his name was mentioned among the potential presidential candidates from the opposition.

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of the CHP, had nominated Yavaş and İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu as his vice presidential candidates in the May elections. (AEK/VK)