CHP leader: Local alliances still possible

ANKARA

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu is said to have told provincial heads during a meeting on Sept. 9 that an alliance with other parties was still on the agenda for the upcoming local elections as the “purpose is to win the municipalities.”

“There is İYİ [Good] Party, Peoples’ Democratic Party [HDP] and Felicity Party [SP], we might come together and present a single candidate [for a mayoral post]. The whole purpose is to win the municipality. You will determine the strategy,” Kılıçdaroğlu is said to have said during the closed-door part of the meeting in the capital Ankara.

His comments ruled out a previous statement made by the party that it was “definitely not considering” any partnership in the March 2019 municipal elections. “An alliance is definitely not on our agenda,” CHP spokesperson Faik Öztrak had said at a press conference earlier in September.

Kılıçdaroğlu’s comments came at a time when the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) had started voicing plans to continue their “Peoples’ Alliance” for the local elections.

The CHP leader also reportedly told the provincial heads that they would be the ones to decide if a preliminary election was going to be held in a bid to determine the party mayor candidates for the elections.

“You will decide on your own if you want to have a survey conducted [to determine the suitable candidate name] or have a primary election. Our purpose is to win the mayoral posts, and you will decide with whom we will win,” Kılıçdaroğlu reportedly said, while warning the provincial heads against names that were not nominated by the party and “worked against the party’s interests.”

“Sometimes, they see their own interest above that of the party’s interests. Such people need to be removed from the party. We do not need people who do this. Those who are with a cause should enter the election,” he reportedly said.