Today, Monday, the Turkish opposition alliance announced that Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the Republican People’s Party, will be its joint candidate against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the upcoming presidential elections scheduled for May 14. The head of the opposition Felicity Party, Temel Karamullah Oglu, told a crowd outside his party’s headquarters in Ankara, where the leaders of the six parties met today, Monday, according to Al-Jazeera website. "Kemal Kilicdaroglu is our presidential candidate".
The divided Turkish opposition leaders met Monday in a new attempt to agree on a joint candidate to face President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the upcoming presidential elections.
Erdogan is facing a decisive test in the elections, which many consider the most important in Turkey since the proclamation of the republic nearly a century ago.
The Good Party – the second largest party in the 6-party coalition – announced its withdrawal from the opposition bloc on Friday after its leader, Meral Aksener, rejected the news circulating about the selection of Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the opposition Republican People’s Party, as a presidential candidate in the elections.
Aksener initially requested that the mayor of Ankara, Mansur Yavas, or the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, replace Kilicdaroglu in the candidacy.
She indicated that opinion polls show that they will win over Erdogan by a large margin of votes.
Hours before the five remaining parties in the coalition were ready to announce Kılıçdaroğlu as a presidential candidate for the coalition, the mayor of Ankara and the mayor of Istanbul held a short meeting with Akşener, who submitted her proposal to appoint them as vice presidents in the event of winning the elections.
Kursad Zorlu, a spokesman for the Jaid Party, told reporters that Aksener had put forward an offer "inclusive"
Zorlo said "Akşener put forward a proposal to appoint the mayors of the two municipalities as executive vice presidents. Our leader will carry this proposal to Kilicdaroglu in the coming moments.".
A senior CHP official told Reuters his party had agreed to the proposal.
The opposition deal comes two months before the elections and a month after the earthquakes that devastated the south of the country, killing more than 45,000 people and displacing millions.
Despite the consequences of the earthquake, opinion polls showed on Friday that Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party are still maintaining their chances in the elections.
