Turkey's Opposition Alliance To Nominate Kilicdaroglu As Presidential Candidate - Reports

Turkey's Opposition Alliance to Nominate Kilicdaroglu as Presidential Candidate - Reports

ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th March, 2023) Turkey's six-party opposition alliance intends to nominate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP), as a single candidate for the upcoming presidential election in May, Turkish media reported on Monday.

On Friday, the leader of Good Party, Meral Aksener, hinted at the party's possible withdrawal from the opposition alliance, saying it no longer reflected real interests of the Turkish people. The conflict occurred after five parties proposed Kilicdaroglu's candidacy at a meeting on Thursday, while the Good Party intended to discuss the candidacies of Istanbul and Ankara mayors, Ekrem Imamoglu and Mansur Yavas.

The opposition will gather at 2 p.m. (11:00 GMT) in the headquarters of the Felicity Party to announce a single joint candidate, with the decision to nominate Kilicdaroglu already approved by five opposition parties, according to the Hurriyet newspaper.

Later in the day, Aksener said that the conflict between her and other opposition leaders occurred after she had refused to immediately support Kilicdaroglu's candidacy and proposed to conduct a poll instead to see what candidate would have the best shot to beat incumbent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"Everyone was in favor of Kilicdaroglu's candidacy, unless I had a word. When it came to my turn, I said, 'In our polls Yavas and Imamoglu are leaders.' I said, 'But if you want to, let us conduct a poll and act accordingly.' Kilicdaroglu did not agree, he became angry and got up from the table," Aksener said, as quoted by the Yeni Safak newspaper.

Last week, Erdogan confirmed that the country's general election would take place on May 14 as scheduled, despite expectations that it could have been postponed due to the devastating earthquakes in February.