ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th March, 2023) The leader of the Republican People's Party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, has been declared the single candidate of the opposition People's Alliance in the general elections in Turkey scheduled for May 14, he will oppose the Republican Alliance's candidate, the country's incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a Sputnik correspondent reported.
The nomination of the opposition candidate was announced by Temel Karamollaoglu, the leader of the Happiness Party, the headquarters of which hosted a meeting of the "table of six" (six-party opposition bloc).
The announcement was preceded by a conflict within the alliance. Thus, the leader of the Good Party, Meral Aksener, said earlier that the alliance no longer reflected the real interests of the people. The conflict arose due to the fact that five parties proposed the candidacy of Kilicdaroglu, and the Good Party intended to discuss the candidacies of the mayors of Istanbul and Ankara.
On Monday, Aksener nevertheless arrived at a meeting of the alliance of six opposition parties after long meetings with the mayors of Istanbul and Ankara, Ekrem Imamoglu and Mansur Yavas. After negotiations with the mayors, Aksener held face-to-face talks with Kilicdaroglu to settle the differences. The parties reached a consensus that Imamoglu and Yavas would have the powers of vice presidents if Kilicdaroglu is elected president.
"During the transitional period, the leaders of the alliance's parties will be appointed as vice presidents... the mayors of Istanbul and Ankara will be appointed as vice presidents when the president deems it appropriate, they will have certain responsibilities," People's Alliance said in a statement received by Sputnik.
In the address following the announcement of his candidacy, Kilicdaroglu said that the opposition alliance had agreed on a roadmap for the country's transition to a so-called strengthened parliamentary system.
Later in the day, the pro-Kurdish opposition Peoples' Democracy Party said it could drop the idea of nominating its own presidential candidate and support the candidacy of Kilicdaroglu.
"The issue of nominating a candidate from our party is related to what decisions will be made during the meetings with the allied forces. We congratulate Kilicdaroglu on the nomination, and we look forward to meeting with him," co-chair of the party Mithat Sancar told the Haberturk broadcaster.
However, the participation of the party in the election is not set since General Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeal Bekir Sahin has called on the constitutional court to completely ban the activities of the party due to its links with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which Ankara considers a terrorist organization.
