İYİ and Felicity Party leaders begin to collect 100,000 signatures for presidential candidates

ANKARA

Two oppositional leaders, Meral Akşener from the Good (İYİ) Party and Temel Karamollaoğlu from the Felicity Party (SP), who are willing to run for the presidency in the June 24 polls, have begun collecting the required 100,000 signatures, a day after the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader urged the government to probe potential links of these voters with the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ).

The process for collecting signatures for presidential nominees have started on elections boards in 957 districts across Turkey.

Following a call by Republican People’s Party (CHP) Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, members of the main opposition party also signed for Akşener and Karamollaoğlu.

Karamollaoğlu, after giving his signature in Ankara, told reporters he calls out on all political party leaders and citizens for sobriety throughout the election campaign.

“Our wish is to have a peaceful election period,” he said.

“I do not want to get into this ugliness,” Karamollaoğlu said when asked about MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli’s call for a probe into the potential links of these voters with FETÖ.

Everyone is aware of who has connections with FETÖ and no one can hide it, he said.

The alliance among opposition parties will be “the first step to peace and cohabitation” in Turkey, said the SP leader.

According to the regulation, the presidential candidate can be nominated by a political party, which has either received at least 5 percent of the votes in the last election or has a group in parliament and 100,000 signatures from the electorate.