TKP General Secretary Kemal Okuyan underlined: “We are a Marxist party. We know that it is the central political power that will change everything. "However, local elections offer the opportunity to create some cracks in the order", he said.
The Communist Party's candidate for Istanbul's metropolitan municipality is 61 year-old journalist and writer Orhan Gökdemir. Gökdemir aspires to express the alternative people's choice between current mayor Ekrem Imamoglu (supported by the Republican People's Party) and AKP's Murat Kurum.
In a surprise move, the Communist Party nominated Fatih Mehmet Maçoğlu, the current communist mayor in eastern Tunceli city, for Istanbul's Kadıköy, a district traditionally governed by the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP). A popular figure in Tunceli, Maçoğlu seems to have a high approval rate also among Kadıköy voters, despite the dominance of CHP.
Among others, TKP candidates are: Ali Ufuk Arikan in Ankara municipality, Savaş Sarı in Izmir, Nazlı Ece Mutlu in Antalya. For the earthquake-ridden Hatay provice, the Communist Party has nominated Dr. Endam Köybasi for the major municipality.
