Turkish Opposition Alliance Announces Presidential Candidates To Challenge Erdogan

Jakarta –

After weeks of tough debate, the opposition in Turkey on Monday finally announced their nominee, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the center-left Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (CHP) party, as their nominee to face President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in elections in May.

But the six-party opposition alliance has been overshadowed by long feuds as other parties want to nominate other politicians. An agreement was finally reached for Kemal Kilicdaroglu, but one of the largest parties in the opposition alliance refused to support his candidacy.

The nationalist IYI party, the second largest force in the alliance, previously proposed two other figures who are also members of the CHP, namely the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, and the mayor of Ankara, Mansur Yavas as vice-presidential candidates. The CHP eventually accepted a compromise in an attempt to unify the opposition bloc.

The opposition alliance is still fragile

IYI leader Meral Aksener said last week he would not support Kemal Kilicdaroglu’s candidacy and would leave the six-party opposition alliance if Kilicdaroglu’s candidacy was forced.

Meral Aksener said he actually hoped that Imamoglu or Yavas would be the main candidates. The two mayors both performed better than Kemal Kilicdaroglu in various opinion polls.

“I regret to say, since yesterday, coalition six has lost its ability to reflect the will of the people in its decisions,” Meral Aksener told reporters after meeting with senior IYI party officials. According to him, Kemal Kilicdaroglu only has a slim chance of winning.

The bloc pledged in January to end Erdogan’s presidential system and restore parliamentary rule. Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been in power for the last 20 years and has steadily strengthened his position as president by weakening the judiciary, media and opposition. Opposition groups are now hoping that the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and criticism of the government’s handling of the disaster will boost their chances of winning.

The longtime leader of the CHP who had never won an election

According to the opposition plan, the president will return to a ceremonial role only, with a maximum term of seven years. The Alliance also announced that they would fight inflation and would reduce it to single-digit percentages within two years.

In addition, they will continue Turkey’s efforts to become a member of the European Union and restore the independence of the country’s central bank.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, 74, is the longtime leader of the largest opposition party, the CHP. His candidacy for the presidential election is supported by his own party and four other minor parties in the alliance.

In the last 13 years leading the CHP, Kemal Kilicdaroglu has not managed to win a national election. That is why many of the opposition also disagree with his candidacy.

hp/yf (dpa, ap)

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See also ‘Yel-Yels of Turkish Citizens Urge Erdogan’s Government to Quit After the Earthquake’:

(it/it)