Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan nominated Saturday former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim to run for mayor of Istanbul in 2019, reported The Associated Press.
Yildirim currently is speaker of Turkey's parliament. He served as prime minister during 2016-2018 and before that as Erdogan's transport minister.
Erdogan served as Istanbul's mayor for four years before founding his Justice and Development Party in 2001.
Yildirim's main opponent in the March 31 mayoral election will be Ekrem Imamoglu from the secular Republican People's Party.
