Opposition to choose presidential candidate jointly: CHP leader

ANKARA

Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has reiterated that the opposition coalition will select its presidential candidate after internal deliberations, denying one of his closest aide’s statement that he will be the CHP’s nominee for the next presidential elections.

“We, as the Nation Alliance, will run for the presidential election together with other opposition parties. So, announcing this or that person would be a candidate without consulting them, without their approval and a joint decision was wrong,” Kılıçdaroğlu was quoted as saying by the daily Sözcü over the weekend.

He made the statement after his close aid and deputy leader of the CHP, Bülent Kuşoğlu, mentioned Kılıçdaroğlu as the presidential candidate of the CHP at a meeting on July 9. “It was an untimely statement. I heard about it with sorrow,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.

The CHP leader has refrained from voicing his potential candidacy for the presidential elections, stressing that the oppositional nominee should be decided by the components of the Nation Alliance, namely the CHP, the İYİ (Good) Party, the Felicity Party and the Democrat Party. The Future Party and the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) also have intentions to cooperate with the Nation Alliance.

Kuşoğlu’s remarks have triggered discussions on who should be the Nation Alliance’s candidate. Koray Aydın, a senior member of the İYİ Party, underlined that they would like to see İYİ Party leader Meral Akşener as the president.

“But we can only tell this. An agreement on these issues will be very easy. I refer to all the [oppositional] parties, which means there will be no conflict. This is an issue to be dealt with when the time comes,” he said.

Turkey will go to the presidential and parliamentary elections in June 2023. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has already been announced as the joint candidate of the People’s Alliance, comprising of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).