CHP accuses gov’t of trying to block primaries
ANKARA
Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairman Özgür Özel has claimed that the government is trying to prevent primary elections, which will determine the main opposition’s presidential candidate, by filing multiple lawsuits.
“They want to block our primaries because they know that we will call even louder for early elections and highlight all the difficulties the people are suffering after we elect our presidential candidate on March 23,” Özel told his parliamentary group on Feb. 18.
The CHP will hold primaries with the participation of its 1.6 million members next month in a bid to increase its pressure for early elections and create a political shield on İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, the main opposition’s strongest presidential nominee but who risks being banned from politics due to five ongoing legal prosecutions.
Özel recalled that İmamoğlu faces 25 years in prison and a political ban in five separate cases while the CHP, as the institution, is also under investigation due to the 2023 general convention.
The chairman stated that the pressure put by the government also targets journalists, media organizations and civil society, stressing “This civilian coup is targeting the CHP.”
“We are aware of the systematically functioning alliance of coup plotters. The target of this coup is not the sitting president but the next one,” he said, referring to the CHP’s presidential candidate to be elected through the primaries in March.
“Despite all of this, we will not surrender. We will not allow the CHP and the opposition to be divided,” he added.
