Akşener opposition’s nominee for prime minister, says CHP chief

ANKARA

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has said the opposition alliance will nominate İYİ (Good) Party chair Meral Akşener for the office of the prime minister when they come to power in the next elections.

“We [the opposition alliance] has a candidate for the prime minister. The alliance has an important actor who said she desires to be prime minister,” Kılıçdaroğlu said in an interview with Fox Tv on March 1.

Akşener had said she had no aspiration to run for the president in the next elections but she wants to be the prime minister although the current system has no premiership. The opposition Nation Alliance is planning to nominate a single candidate for the presidential race against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the next year’s elections.

On a question, Kılıçdaroğlu said there is still time for the opposition to decide who will run in the elections, saying, “Everybody would like to be president. But this has not been discussed among leaders. We only talk about principles. In the last stage, the leaders will evaluate ‘with which candidate we can certainly win” the polls. If the leaders ask me to run, then I can run for the president.”

The presidential candidate should be a person who can provide trust to all opposition parties either verbally or through a written declaration, Kılıçdaroğlu said.

He added it was particularly important as the opposition vowed to replace the current presidential system with a strengthened parliamentary model.

“The table established by the opposition parties will not be broken. History imposes us with responsibility, and we have to act accordingly. We cannot break this table when the country is in that bad situation,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.