His case on Thursday was adjourned to Nov. 30 and the trial is set to hang over the opposition as it tries to regroup and rally disheartened voters ahead of local elections in March. At the same time, calls have grown louder for the opposition's defeated presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu to resign as chairman of Imamoglu's Republican People's Party (CHP). Tanju Tosun, political science professor at Ege University, said the CHP's internal politics could overshadow its preparations for next year's local elections. "If the internal rifts within the CHP continues until local elections, candidates from the ruling AK Party (AKP) could defeat opposition candidates in many cities," he said. "YSP may field candidates (in Istanbul and Ankara)," Meral Danis Bestas, a senior YSP official, said.

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Persons: Imamoglu, Tayyip Erdogan, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, Erdogan, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Kilicdaroglu, Tanju Tosun, Kemal Polat, Polat, We've, Ali Kucukgocmen, Huseyin Hayatsever, Daren Butler, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Istanbul Mayor, opposition's, Republican People's Party, Ege University, CHP, AK Party, Council of State, IYI Party, IYI, Left, Thomson Locations: Istanbul, ISTANBUL, Beylikduzu, Balikesir, Denizli, Kurdish, Ankara