Turkish opposition's mainstay, the Republican People's Party (CHP), is growing more polarized as its leader and high-profile member Ekrem Imamoğlu quarrel over selecting mayoral candidates for the upcoming high-stakes local elections.
Already bogged down in the monthslong fallout of its six-party opposition bloc's defeat in last year's general elections, the CHP is struggling with a unique two-headedness where Imamoğlu, the incumbent Istanbul mayor, is intervening in recently elected Chair Özgür Özel's leadership less than two months before the party could face another poll loss.
Imamoğlu, hoping to rerun in March, has been pressuring the party on the process of picking mayoral candidates in Istanbul districts, as well as central Anatolian metropolitan Eskişehir and historical CHP stronghold Izmir, sources close to the party alleged this week.
The mayor, who emerged as an opposition darling in the 2019 elections only to lose his luster during his tenure, regularly squabbles with Özel on the issue as he is keen to see the said cities "under his own control," sources claimed.
His insistence on nominating his favored names despite Özel's "increasing ire" is brewing a crisis that could last until the end of January, when all eligible political parties must submit their candidacy lists to the relevant authorities.
Imamoğlu has long been known to have reserved the Eskişehir mayoralty for a district mayor in the said city, a Kazım Kurt who backed Imamoğlu when CHP was grappling with internal elections that ousted longtime Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu after he lost again to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in May.
Özel reportedly met with incumbent Eskişehir Mayor Yılmaz Büyükerşen earlier this week to finalize Kurt's candidacy, but Büyükerşen was resolved not to back down.
Should Özel go ahead with Kurt in Eskişehir despite Büyükerşen's requests, the CHP could face a fresh backlash and a major loss of voter support in the city where its nationwide credibility has already been damaged by two decades of election losses and inconsistent policies.
As for the western resort city of Izmir, Imamoğlu and Özel are locking horns on their respective candidates, who would push out incumbent mayor Tunç Soyer.
Soyer, eager to cling onto his seat, has been lobbying within the CHP for support, but both Imamoğlu and Özel have agreed on not handing Izmir to him again, sources claimed.
Özel has been floating two names, Selin Sayek Böke, the party's secretary-general, and Olgun Atilla, mayor of Izmir's Bornova district, while Imamoğlu is eyeing Buğra Gökçe, a close friend at the Istanbul municipality.
When CHP held intraparty elections late last year to determine whether it would stick to the existing order or heed calls for change, Imamoğlu's push for a fresh start helped put Özel in charge.
Özel, a 49-year-old former pharmacist, immediately promised a brighter political future for the fractured CHP, as well as victory in the upcoming local elections. Still, the party has nearly lost all of its allies, who have been announcing plans to compete with their own candidates in key cities. The CHP desperately needs a win.
In the aftermath of last May, the March 31 vote is a test of popular support for the CHP and Erdoğan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). It will show whether the opposition can recoup in time and if the AK Party is still popular despite challenges.
Imamoğlu, who ended the AK Party's lengthy rule in Istanbul, will compete against former Environment and Urban Planning Minister Murat Kurum, with whom the AK Party hopes to reclaim Türkiye's most populated city.
Imamoğlu has been accused of a string of failures, from lingering problems in mass transportation due to vehicles not being maintained adequately to crisis management in times of chaos, such as floods or a massive snowstorm in recent years.