A little over a month until the local elections on March 31, Türkiye’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) candidate Murat Kurum has claimed he’s at least a point ahead of his main rival Ekrem Imamoğlu in the mayoral race for Istanbul.

"We have announced our projects and we took the lead in the polls by 1 to 1.5 points. That’s what they cannot get over," Kurum told an interview with the private television network Habertürk on Monday night.

He argued Imamoğlu, Istanbul’s current mayor from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), was "concerned" because he was losing in the polls and accused him of "turning away from people’s problems."

Kurum, a former environment, urban planning and climate change minister, also condemned Imamoğlu for failing to fulfill promises about making Istanbul earthquake-proof.

The biggest problem in the city is traffic congestion, Kurum said, arguing that Istanbulites were "sick of seeing things they don’t see in third-world countries and social injustices."

"Imamoğlu’s rival in this race is his inattention for Istanbul," Kurum said, referring to the mayor’s skiing trip when Istanbul was flooded last year.

Ever since losing Istanbul to the CHP in the 2019 elections, the AK Party has been eager to recapture the largest metropolitan in Türkiye, which is considered the most critical local administration seat in the mayoral race on March 31.

According to polls from six survey companies last week, Kurum and Imamoğlu were neck and neck.

Istanbul, which hosts over 16 million people, has more than 10.5 million eligible voters, according to figures from the Supreme Election Council (YSK) released before last May's general and presidential elections.

Imamoğlu, on top of fighting a lawsuit that could ban him from politics for good, has been facing an onslaught of criticism over increasing incidents, accidents and breakdowns in public transportation affiliated with his office.

Kurum's campaign has so far largely focused on the urban transformation of earthquake-prone Istanbul, which sits on a major fault line, as well as strengthening public transport and bolstering technical and social infrastructure.