Özel says CHP readying policy promises for İmamoğlu's bid

Özel says CHP readying policy promises for İmamoğlu's bid

MANİSA
Özel says CHP readying policy promises for İmamoğlus bid

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel has said preparations are underway for an election campaign centered on the presidential bid of jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, pledging an "energized" movement to challenge the government.

 

"We will have the most crowded, most energetic, most faithful, most resistant and perhaps the longest election campaign in history," Özel told reporters in the western city of Manisa on June 21.

 

Özel made the comments as he accompanied the daughter of Manisa Mayor Ferdi Zeyrek — who died earlier this month — to her university entrance exam at a local school.

 

"We will carry out a march to power without getting tired — never and ever decreasing — increasing and accelerating," he said. "We do not plan to reduce the number of rallies, but increase them or support them with new actions."

 

İmamoğlu was arrested in connection with a corruption investigation on March 23, the same day he was declared the CHP's presidential candidate for the next elections. The party has been staging rallies across the country calling for his release and early polls.

 

The rallies, Özel said, will continue "until our friends are free and fairly tried, and these injustices end."

 

During a parliamentary meeting on June 17, he announced that the CHP had established a campaign office for İmamoğlu and was in the final stages of drafting a government program. The rollout — expected in July — will form the basis of a government blueprint, he added.

 

In Manisa, Özel said the presidential candidate office is drafting policy proposals and campaign promises.

 

"After it is finalized, we will start an election campaign in all 81 provinces with all our MPs, party assembly members, all the elected members of the party... and even people from the provincial and district branches," he said.

 

The CHP leader was scheduled to attend a rally in the northwestern city of Tekirdağ on June 22.