4 Mar 2023; MEMO: The selection of a candidate to face Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the elections scheduled for 14 May has led to a divide in the ranks of the main opposition alliance consisting of six parties on Friday.
The Good Party founder, Meral Aksener, refused to support the nomination of the head of the Republican People's Party (CHP), Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who was chosen by five of the six parties, noting that the Good Party is the second-largest party in the alliance.
In a televised speech, Aksener conveyed that she believed that the candidacy of Kilicdaroglu, which will be officially announced on Monday, is the result of "small calculations" that contradict Turkiye's public interest: "The Table of Six (the name of the alliance) has lost the ability to represent the will of the nation."
Aksener added that her party would not "give in" to pressure to agree to Kilicdaroglu. She proposed nominating the mayors of Istanbul and Ankara instead, both of whom are from the CHP, and noted that opinion polls show that they will win by a large margin against Erdogan.
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She added that the alliance of the main opposition parties: "Is no longer a platform that enables us to consult on potential candidates but has become an office working to approve one candidate," calling on Ekrem Imamoglu and Mansur Yavas to run.
After a meeting with officials of her party, Aksener expressed: "Our nation loves you both, our nation wants you both," while the mayor of Ankara, Yavas, voiced his support for the party's chair, Kilicdaroglu, stressing that he was ready to perform his "duty" if asked by the alliance.
The mayor of Istanbul, Imamoglu, also confirmed his support for the CHP chair's candidacy.
Erdogan ended speculation last Wednesday by confirming that the presidential and legislative elections would be held on 14 May as planned, despite the devastating earthquake that struck Turkiye and Syria on 6 February.
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The leaders of the six parties held a meeting on Thursday that lasted over five hours to agree on a candidate, and issued a statement signed by all, including Aksener, stating: "We have reached an understanding regarding our joint presidential candidate."
The statement added that the leaders would meet again on Monday to announce their final decision. However, after the Thursday meeting, Aksener went to her party's headquarters in Ankara and held a meeting with its leaders that went into the early hours of the morning.
The opposition in Turkiye had failed in previous national elections to pose a real challenge to Erdogan, who has been in power for two decades.
The opposition has strengthened its cooperation since its success in winning the presidency of major municipalities, such as Istanbul and Ankara, snatching it from the hands of Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party in the local elections in 2019.
