Zülfü Livaneli calls for no vote splitting in local elections

Zülfü Livaneli, who was the SHP's Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality mayoral candidate in 1994, recounted those days and called on voters to cast their ballots for Ekrem İmamoğlu.

“SO THE SAME MISTAKE IS NOT REPEATED”

In a statement on his X (Twitter) account, Livaneli noted the following:

“Dear friends, we are in a very important election period. Exactly thirty years ago, the right-left divide was very sharp. Despite all my efforts for persuasion and unification, three left-wing parties entered the election.

Even though we received the most votes, they split us. Many municipalities, primarily Ankara and Istanbul, passed to Refah.

In order not to repeat the same mistake thirty years later, I invite all sensible Istanbulites to go to the polls on Sunday and vote for Ekrem İmamoğlu.”

SHP, DSP, AND CHP HAD ENTERED THE ELECTION WITH SEPARATE CANDIDATES

In the 1994 elections that Livaneli recalled, the center-left in Istanbul entered the election with three separate candidates: the SHP, DSP, and CHP, and Refah Party candidate Recep Tayyip Erdoğan became the Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor with 25 percent of the vote.

The candidates who competed in Istanbul in the 1994 local elections and the votes they received are as follows:

Refah Party – Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: 25.19 percent

Motherland Party (ANAP) – İlhan Kesici: 22.14 percent

Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP) – Zülfü Livaneli: 20.3 percent

True Path Party (DYP) – Bedrettin Dalan: 15.46 percent

Democratic Left Party (DSP) – Necdet Özkan: 12.38 percent

CHP – Ertuğrul Günay: 1.87 percent