The repeat election for Istanbul has brought a great victory for Ekrem İmamoğlu who received 54% of the vote. In the course of the past year, he has emerged as a candidate who has the potential to challenge the 17-year-long AKP rule in Turkey. There is no doubt that İmamoğlu’s unstinting recourse to what he calls the “language of love”, replacing rage and polarization, played a large role in his victory. He was able to win the hearts and minds of the citizens of Istanbul by breathing respect and reconciliation into a polarized society. With a new language, he energized Turkish politics and planted seeds of hope in despondent hearts.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to say that İmamoğlu did not achieve this victory all by himself. As he also underlined in his victory speech, there were many actors who made this historical dent in authoritarian rule possible.
First of all, there is no doubt that the citizens of Istanbul who not only voted but were notably organized to monitor/guard the ballots played an historically significant role in this victory. The history of Turkey’s citizen-initiated electoral monitoring remains to be written as an inspiring model for other electoral authoritarianisms in the world. Moreover, the inspiring stories of elderly citizens of Istanbul who went out of their ways to vote (such as returning from long distance summer vacations, some in wheelchairs, some walking only with the help of their sticks) revealed how the memory of the struggle for democracy could be instrumental in the fight for it.
