Candidate lists in Ankara herald big challenges

ANKARA

Deputy Prime Minister Yalçın Akdoğan (L) will run for parliament in Ankara on the AKP ticket while HDP Istanbul deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder (R) will run for office in Ankara on his party’s ticket. AFP Photo

Turkish political parties apparently took great pains while selecting their candidates in metropolitan cities such as Ankara, based on the lists they submitted to the Supreme Election Board (YSK) for the June 7 parliamentary elections. 

One such example is best displayed by the choices of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in the capital city of Ankara.

Deputy Prime Minister Yalçın Akdoğan, who was appointed to his post despite not being a member of parliament, instead serving as a long-time advisor to then prime minister and current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, will run for parliament in Ankara on the AKP ticket according to the party’s lists submitted to the YSK on April 7. 

HDP Istanbul deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder will also run for office in Ankara on his party’s ticket. Both Akdoğan and Önder have been closely involved in the government-led Kurdish peace process. Önder has been a frequent visitor to Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), as part of HDP delegations within the peace process.

Öcalan allegedly convinced Önder to run for parliament again, as the latter had intended to leave active politics. It has also been alleged Ankara was Önder’s choice in an apparent sign of his willingness to attract urban voters to his party, as he has been popular not only with the HDP’s grassroots, but also with voters from different ideologies.