AKP, MHP apply to election board for Erdoğan’s candidacy
ANKARA
Representatives of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) on March 21 applied to the Supreme Election Board (YSK) for the candidacy of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“We applied to the YSK. Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is the candidate of the MHP and the People’s Alliance. The People’s Alliance was established spontaneously after the treacherous coup attempt of July 15 [2016]. The People’s Alliance is a national and moral stance and historical unity in the face of hostile domestic and foreign initiatives against Türkiye,” MHP Deputy Chairman Feti Yıldız told reporters after their application.
Asked about Erdoğan’s candidacy for the third time, Yıldız said, “These are frivolous issues.”
AKP Group Chair İsmet Yılmaz, for his part, replied, “It is up to the YSK to take any decision regarding the elections. Anyone can make his objection, the YSK makes the final decision, taking into account the legislation.”
The election calendar prepared by the board was issued in the Official Gazette late on March 13 for the country’s one of the most critical polls in which tens of millions of people will elect for the president and 600-seat parliament on May 14.
According to the calendar, presidential candidates of the political parties will apply to the YSK latest on March 23.
The presidential nominees whose applications will be confirmed by the YSK will be published in the Official Gazette on March 31, and a propaganda period for the presidential candidates will begin. The political parties that agreed to build alliances started to submit the protocols they approved to the YSK by March 18.
If the parties change their mind or amend the protocols, they should notify the election watchdog on April 7 at the latest. On April 8, the parties will submit their candidates to the parliament so that the YSK can scrutinize the lists.
