Jailed Istanbul mayor declared opposition presidential candidate

ISTANBUL, Mar 24 (AFP): Istanbul's embattled Ekrem Imamoglu was officially nominated as a presidential candidate by the opposition CHP party for the 2028 elections, a party spokesman told AFP on Monday.

The Republican People's Party (CHP) -- the main opposition party and the second largest party in parliament-held a primary election on Sunday, at which the only candidate was Imamoglu, the main political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Imamoglu has been arrested, interrogated, jailed and stripped of his mayorship in less than a week following a graft and terror probe that the opposition has slammed as a political "coup.

Imamoglu spends first night

in jail as thousands protest

Istanbul's embattled Ekrem Imamoglu spent his first night in jail Monday a day after his suspension as mayor, as 10 journalists were detained for covering the mass demonstrations that his detention sparked across Turkey.

The protests began in Istanbul after Imamoglu's arrest on Wednesday and have since spread to more than 55 of Turkey's 81 provinces, sparking clashes with riot police in the country's worst street protests in more than a decade.

The popular Imamoglu has been widely seen as the only politician who could defeat Turkey's longtime authoritarian leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the ballot box and his arrest came just days before he was to be named as the opposition candidate in the 2028 presidential elections.