Nation Alliance candidate should have state experience: Akşener

ANKARA

İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener stressed that the presidential candidate of the Nation Alliance should have state experience and would pursue a parliamentary system.

“I still think that there should be only one nomination. A candidate that will win. One who would stress the need for a parliamentary system. We will have a candidate with state experience. He will be a candidate for the Nation Alliance,” Akşener said on Sept. 13 in a televised interview with Fox TV.

Asked if the presidential candidate of the six opposition parties that convened intending to reinstate the parliamentary system will be among the leaders of these six parties, Akşener said the decision for the nomination will come from their discussions. “It’s a common mind platform,” Akşener stated.

The İYİ Party leader reiterated her intention to run for prime minister if Nation Alliance comes to the power after the next elections. Akşener also underlined the importance to run with a single presidential candidate as Nation Alliance.

Felicity party (FP) Chair Temel Karamollaoğlu, CHP leader Kılıçdaroğlu, Good (İYİ) Party Chairwoman Meral Akşener, Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) Chairman Ali Babacan, Future Party Chairman Ahmet Davutoğlu and Democrat Party Chairman Gültekin Uysal held their sixth in-person meeting on Aug. 21 as they agreed to reinstate the parliamentary system in Türkiye.

The opposition alliance, established by six political parties, is yet to nominate a presidential candidate against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In a case where no candidate gets 50 percent of the votes in the first round, then the two leading candidates will race in the second round.

The CHP, İYİ Party, Saadet Party and the Democrat Party formed the Nation Alliance before the June 2018 general elections.

Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) and the Future Party are also acting with the Nation Alliance