Another İYİ Party MP resigns over solo run decision

ANKARA

The decision of the İYİ (Good) Party to go solo in next March's local elections has resulted in yet another resignation, with Ankara MP Yüksel Arslan announcing his departure and pledging his support to the capital's incumbent mayor, Mansur Yavaş.

"Although our party has declared its will, I have endeavored to make a common-sense decision that would meet the will and expectations of our party's base in Ankara from the beginning of the process based on the current political and social reality," Arslan said in a social media post on Dec. 21.

This move follows the party's controversial decision to field its own candidates in all constituencies for the mayoral polls, deviating from the successful electoral cooperation that proved pivotal in main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) victories in key battlegrounds, including Ankara and Istanbul, in 2019.

The fallout from the party's decision to run independently has been substantial, marked by a series of resignations and dismissals among lawmakers and key figures within the party, causing its parliamentary seats to drop to 38.

Arslan revealed details of a meeting with İYİ Party leader Meral Akşener on Dec. 6, where he claimed that the chair informed him that she had not received a concrete proposal from the CHP for cooperation and that she did not have a negative attitude towards Yavaş.

The Ankara deputy revealed that Akşener told him, "I know that you are close to Mr. Mansur. I cannot tell you to work for our party's candidate in Ankara. You are free."

"However, I think that supporting another candidate in a city where my party nominates a candidate would not be compatible with politics, morality and courtesy," Arslan wrote on X. "I see supporting the Ankara Municipality's mayor, Mr. Mansur Yavaş, as a humanitarian, conscientious and moral responsibility as well as loyalty."

The MP’s resignation comes in the wake of Akşener accusing Yavaş, along with Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, of cowardice for not responding to her call for him to become the now-defunct opposition alliance's presidential candidate in the May election.

Arslan vehemently defended Yavaş. "I have known Mansur Yavaş since my childhood. I know the courage of Yavaş when necessary, with whom I fought shoulder to shoulder while going through a ring of fire. Let alone being a coward, he is greathearted."

The six-way Nation Alliance featured former CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaoroğlu as the presidential hopeful and mayors as his vice-presidential candidates.

Some İYİ Party officials advocating for such an alliance with the main opposition party argue that running separate candidates could potentially give the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)-led alliance a significant advantage in key cities. With Yavaş and İmamoğlu already announced as the CHP's candidates once again, the ruling People's Alliance's candidates in Istanbul and Ankara are yet to be revealed.