(Bloomberg) -- Istanbul’s Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a key figure in Turkey’s biggest opposition party who’s widely considered a potential challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will run for a second term in local elections on March 31.

With retail inflation in Turkey’s commercial hub approaching 75%, Imamoglu blamed the national government’s “irrational” policies for economic hardship faced by the city of 16 million people, in a speech after his Republican People’s Party announced the candidacy.

“The nation became poorer and so did the Istanbul Greater Municipality,” said Imamoglu, 52. “But as our administration put a stop to squandering, we managed to do twice the job they had done before us, at half the cost,” he said, referring to the previous AK Party administration.

The polls in March will be the biggest event on Turkey’s electoral calendar this year, as Erdogan looks to build on his party’s momentum following a decisive win in presidential and parliamentary votes in May.

Imamoglu was elected in March 2019 with a surprise but narrow 14,000-vote win over an AK Party rival. The election was canceled over allegations of “vote stealing” but a June re-run widened his lead to nearly 800,000.

His victory and popularity gave the opposition hope they could defeat Erdogan in last year’s presidential election. But he wasn’t chosen to run in the national vote and his party ultimately lost, extending Erdogan’s rule rule into a third decade.

In March, Imamoglu’s task will be made harder by the loss of support of the right-wing opposition IYI Party, which had backed him in 2019 but now plans to field a separate candidate.

Erdogan’s AK Party is expected to declare its candidate for Istanbul on Sunday. 

(Updates with context in first paragraph.)

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