Turkey: The opposition sends Kemal Kilicdaroglu into the race

A coalition of six Turkish opposition parties settled on one joint candidate to Presidential elections in May Agreed. The alliance is sending the leader of the Republican People’s Party, the largest opposition party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, into a race against the incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as announced by the leader of the Felicity Party, Temel Karamollaoglu, in Ankara on Monday evening. In the presence of the other five party leaders, including Kilicdaroglu, Karamollaoglu declared, “Kemal Kilicdaroglu is our presidential candidate.”

“We would have killed ourselves if we had separated,” Kilicdaroglu, 68, told supporters in Ankara after the announcement. He promised to lead the country “on the basis of consultations and compromises” if Erdogan wins the elections. “Law and justice will prevail,” he added.

No agreement for a long time

The alliance could not agree on a common candidate for a long time. There have even been indications in the past few days of the collapse of the alliance. Five parties wanted to send Kilicdaroglu into the race against Erdogan. On the other hand, the leader of the nationalist Iyi Party, Meral Aksener, favored the mayors of Istanbul and Ankara, Ekrem Imamoglu and Mansur Yavas, also belonging to the Social Democratic Republican People’s Party.

The two mayors announced over the weekend that they support their party’s leader’s candidacy. Then Imamoglu and Yavas met Aksener on Monday to persuade her to continue supporting the six opposition party alliance.

Elections in light of the earthquake disaster

Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled for May 14 – a good three months after the devastating earthquake that struck the Turkish-Syrian border region, killing more than 45,000 people in Turkey alone. Erdogan is seeking another term. Among other things, the opposition accuses him Not adequately prepared for earthquakes to have. The disintegration of the opposition coalition would have been in Erdogan’s interest.

Even before the earthquake disaster struck, the president, who had been in charge of the country for 20 years, had to deal with a number of crises at the same time. His economic policies created an inflationary spiral that sent prices up 85 percent last year. In addition, his government is fighting allegations of nepotism and corruption. Opinion polls indicate a close election result.

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