Opposition’s presidential candidate unveils 100-day action plan

ANKARA

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the joint presidential candidate of the Nation Alliance and the Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader, has unveiled an action plan he will implement in the first 100 days of his government if elected in the May 14 elections.

Kılıçdaroğlu listed his short-term pledges in a brochure released by his party on late April 13. The pledges, mostly economic, address the needs of workers, farmers, shopkeepers, youngsters, earthquake victims, retirees and women.

“An effective struggle to end corruption and splurge,” he said on the brochure. “The president will set a role model to the nation with his modest life.”

Kılıçdaroğlu’s to-do list includes measures against the Red Crescent, which has been one of the most criticized institutions in the aftermath of the February earthquakes. “The Red Crescent will no longer run as a business,” it said.

The state will pay the premiums of women and youth employed in the agricultural sector, while all the foreign currency-based state contracts will be converted into Turkish Liras. “Nationalism means protecting the value of the Turkish Lira,” said Kılıçdaroğlu. 

Kılıçdaroğlu also pledged to establish the Urbanization and Disaster Management Ministry and the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry, as well as a special ministry to tackle the problems of shopkeepers.

The parliament will also legislate Law on Political Ethics, and the government will immediately end the implementation of permanent summer time, Kılıçdaroğlu promised.

Kılıçdaroğlu also vowed that 100,000 teachers will be recruited this year and that nutrition support will be provided to students.