Turkish opposition to announce election candidates

 

Turkey’s six-party opposition alliance has said it would announce the names of its joint candidate soon in order to challenge Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the presidential election in May.

Reportedly, the opposition said it would announce its candidate on Monday. However, there are signs of discord in the alliance. The IYI Party, a nationalist and Kemalist political party in Turkey, has issues with the choice of candidates. The alliance said it would hold talks today.

The alliance met on Thursday to agree on the name of a joint candidate, who was expected to be Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). On Monday, they would confirm the name of the joint presidential candidate for the 13th presidential election of Turkey.

Media reports said that there was opposition to the candidacy of Kemal within the IYI Party of Meral Aksener. Reportedly, an IYI Party official said, “There are different opinions about what comes next.”

IYI Party Meral Akşener urged the Turkish President on March 1 to hold the elections at the scheduled time in May. She said that the earthquake victims will display their opinions during the election. She said, “Politicians ask for blessings from their nation at the ballot box.”

On Wednesday, the Turkish president also indicated that presidential and parliamentary elections would take place on May 14. In a speech to lawmakers from his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), he said that Turkish people would do what is necessary on May 14, giving a reference to elections.

Erdogan faced criticism after the powerful earthquake on February 6 wreaked havoc in Turkey. People slammed him over the high death toll in Turkey. They said that they were not happy with Turkey’s response to the massive earthquake. Erdogan’s government also acknowledged “shortcomings” in Turkey’s response to the quake.