Istanbul again at polls with importance for Turkey's future

This Sunday, it is voted back in Istanbul for local elections after authorities avoided an opposition victory that ended 15 years of control by President Recep Tayip Erdogan's AKP party. American Voice correspondent Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, on elections that have taken on much greater significance.

CHP opposition party candidate Ekrem Imamoglu returned to the campaign.

His message to overcome Turkey's deep political divide, which assured him of victory in March, is already linked to democracy.

Mr. Imamoglu's victory was avoided by election authorities based on a technicality because of the failure to meet criteria by some polling officials. A strong sense of justice prevails in the streets.

For me, he won once. Since this is going to be a case of theft, we're going to go vote again for Imamoglu, just to piss off”, says a local resident. But, with one of Istanbul's three young unemployed -- in a town hit hard by economic slowdown -- is the economy that has the most importance for most of Mr. Imamoglu's supporters.

He promises jobs. We're unemployed with university diplomas. We don't get mail. He promises us work that we need more than free Internet. People are hungry; they cannot bring bread home. All good will come with Imamoglu”, says a supporter.

Throughout the City, Party Candidate AKP, Binali Yildirim, avoid the economy and focus on the claim that the March month's vote was stolen.

Mr. Yildirim is conducting a campaign in areas that support him, aiming to revive the basis for the message to protect democracy.

“Directity will be set. That's what we should call it. Our votes were not counted at the last vote; where did they go? Where did my vote go?

Haniphea, like many others, attributes her success to the party AKP in Istanbul.

I have a store for 12 years and I've lived here for 22 years. I got a laundry store I opened with the support of the state. I took a state loan and opened it. So I support”, she says.

Istanbul represents a third of the Turkish economy and an $8 billion budget. The importance of Sunday's vote is therefore high. As a Turkish statement “who controls Istanbul controls Turkey”.

“Politically, this has a vital significance in terms of use and distribution of resources in Istanbul. The panel that will cleverly use these sources will receive a large portion of the vote in the upcoming “general elections, says Nazli Okten University Istanbul's Galatasaray”, follows Top Channel.

With a last-minute move, President Recep Tayip Erdogan has resurfaced in the campaign, as polls pointed to a deep loss of his candidate.

A signal that elections in Istanbul can also determine for its future, and not just for the future of the city.