İYİ Party leader Akşener dismisses joint candidacy rumors for elections

ANKARA

İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener has reportedly reiterated that she will stand as a presidential candidate from her party, dismissing rumors that the opposition bloc was considering presenting former President Abdullah Gül as their joint candidate. 

“If they ask me to step down for Gül, I will not. I will not be [the opposition’s] joint candidate either. Everybody should run in the elections under their own name,” private broadcaster FOX TV anchorman İsmail Küçükkaya quoted her as telling him on the phone on April 24.

As the opposition parties have accelerated talks to find election strategies for the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections, Akşener stated that the alliance in the opposition will be between the Felicity Party (SP) and Democrat Party (DP) for the parliamentary elections.

SP leader Temel Karamollaoğlu will have a meeting with Akşener on April 24. He is later expected to meet Gül, who is a founding member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Gül has remained out of politics since leaving office in 2014.