ISTANBUL — The two main contenders for Istanbul mayor squared off on live television in a rare political debate late on Sunday. The city is gearing up for a controversial do-over election after the opposition candidate’s upset victory in March was nullified.
People from across Turkey tuned into the broadcast of former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, who is on the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) ticket, and the opposition’s Ekrem Imamoglu, a former district mayor for the Republican People’s Party (CHP), in the first election debate in Turkey since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party came to power in 2002 and discarded the ritual.
