The presidential hopeful from the Turkish opposition Homeland Party, Muharrem Ince, said that he did not rule out the possibility of an agreement with the main opposition alliance candidate, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, during the upcoming election
ISTANBUL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th March, 2023) The presidential hopeful from the Turkish opposition Homeland Party, Muharrem Ince, said that he did not rule out the possibility of an agreement with the main opposition alliance candidate, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, during the upcoming election.
The main rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the May election is Kilicdaroglu, the candidate put forward by an alliance of six opposition parties. On Monday, the deadline for the collection of signatures by presidential hopefuls nominated by non-parliamentary parties, only Ince, the leader of the Homeland Party, and Sinan Ogan, running as an independent, had managed to exceed the threshold of 100,000 signatures to be registered as candidates.
When asked by Hurriyet Daily news about the possibility of a meeting with Kilicdaroglu, during which he will probably be asked to pull out of the election to support the opposition leader, possibly under the condition he is offered a vice president position following a Kilicdaroglu win, Ince said he was waiting for that meeting, however, he had not yet received any proposals.
"I am open for discussion," Ince said in the interview, which was published on Tuesday.
The presidential hopeful said that he was aware of opinion polls projecting 2-3% of votes for him at the election.
"I'm unhappy with the incumbent government, but I'm also unhappy with you (the opposition alliance). I want to do politics. Why should I withdraw my candidacy if you doubt your candidate? Is it not (my) democratic right?" he said, as quoted by Hurriyet.
The leader of the Republican People's Party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, was declared the People's Alliance's single candidate on March 6, following some conflict within the opposition. Formed of six parties, the Alliance chose Kilicdaroglu as its candidate in spite of opposition from the Good Party leader, Meral Aksener, who had proposed the mayors of Istanbul and Ankara, Ekrem Imamoglu and Mansur Yavas, as opposition candidates. Kilicdaroglu was nominated the single candidate unanimously after he promised vice president positions to the Alliance's parties leaders if he wins, and to Imamoglu and Yavas when he deems it appropriate.
Turkey's presidential and parliamentary elections will take place on May 14. Opinion polls currently do not show a clear winner, with Kilicdaroglu expected to be Erdogan's main opponent. The elections will likely prove challenging for the ruling party and Erdogan due to the February earthquakes, which killed at least 50,000 people and caused significant material damage. The opposition blames Erdogan for the corruption in the construction industry that led to new buildings collapsing in the quake-hit areas and the slow response to the natural disaster.
