Six-party alliance meets to discuss presidential candidate

ANKARA

The leaders of the six oppositional parties held their 11th meeting on Jan. 26 to start deliberations for choosing a joint presidential candidate to race against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the mid-May polls.

Good (İYİ) Party Chairwoman Meral Akşener hosted Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Temel Karamollaoğlu of the Felicity Party, Ali Babacan of the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA), Gültekin Uysal of the Democrat Party and Ahmet Davutoğlu of the Future Party at the party headquarters.

The six parties established the Nation Alliance against the People’s Alliance by the Justice and Development Party and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). It will be the first meeting where the leaders started to discuss who should be the joint candidate of the alliance. Akşener, in an interview before the meeting, confirmed that they will start pondering about the candidate and a road map on how to proceed in the coming weeks.

In the next event of the leaders, the Nation Alliance will outline a joint government program that will cover nine main policy areas including economy, foreign policy, education and health etc.

The campaign for the oppositional candidate will be based on the policies outlined in the joint government program. It is not yet sure when the Nation Alliance will announce its candidate, but the first half of February is often mentioned by the alliance officials.

In the meantime, the mayors of 11 metropolitan cities, including İstanbul, Ankara and İzmir paid a visit to CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu to express their support. Kılıçdaroğlu is among the potential presidential candidates of the oppositional alliance.