The opposition has chosen a single candidate who will oppose President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the upcoming presidential elections on May 14 . They became the leader of the “Republican People’s Party” Kemal Kilicdaroglu. A corresponding statement was made by the opposition bloc “People’s Alliance”, consisting of six parties, informed Sabah Newspaper.
The publication of Kılıçdaroglu’s name was preceded by a conflict within the coalition: Good Party leader Meral Akşener declared that the alliance no longer reflected the true interests of the people. Disagreements arose due to five parties proposing Kılıçdaroğlu’s candidacy, and the Right Party intended to discuss the candidacies of Istanbul and Ankara mayors, Ekrem Imamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş.
However, on March 6, Aksener nevertheless arrived at a meeting of the opposition alliance. She took this decision after negotiations with the mayors of Istanbul and Ankara, as well as a conversation with the leader of the Republican People’s Party, following which evenings managed to agree that Imamoglu and Yavash will have the powers of vice presidents if Kılıçdaroğlu is elected president.
Kılıçdaroğlu has been in politics and parliament since the early 2000s. In 2009, he ran for mayor of Istanbul with the Republican People’s Party, winning 36.8% of the vote. In May 2010, he was elected president of the Republican People’s Party. 1,246 out of 1,250 delegates voted for Kılıçdaroğlu’s candidacy, which was an all-time high in the history of Turkish politics.
The Republican People’s Party is the largest opposition party in the Turkish Parliament. Its founder is the founder of the modern Turkish state, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The party’s ideology is based on six principles: republicanism, nationalism, statism, nationality, secularism (secularism) and revolutionism.
Kılıçdaroglu regularly criticizes the current government. In January 2016, he was attracted responsible for insulting President Erdogan after calling him a dictator. May 25, 2022 leader of the opposition party accused the Erdogan family by taking millions of dollars to the United States and devising a plan to escape the country if they lose the 2023 presidential election.
After the devastating earthquake in Turkey in early February, Kılıçdaroğlu said Erdoğan was responsible for the large number of casualties.
“Let me be very clear: if there is one main person responsible for this process, it is Erdogan. For 20 years this government did not prepare the country for an earthquake… They gave taxes for earthquake protection to the gangs. Do you know where this money is? They don’t exist,” the politician said in his video message posted on Twitter, adding that he would therefore never accept a meeting with the current head of state, and also rejected requests for solidarity. authorities at a difficult time for the country.
Initially, presidential elections were scheduled for June 18, but Erdogan has repeatedly said that the vote could take place earlier. His party has stressed that the June elections will coincide with the peak of the tourist season, so it is best to postpone them. At the end of January, during a meeting with young people in Bursa, the Head of State announced that the elections would take place on May 14. Legislative elections will also take place on the same day.
According to the laws of the country, the president is elected for a term of five years by an absolute majority. If no candidate receives more than half of the votes, then two weeks after the first round, a second round of voting between the two leaders of the first round must take place.
According to the Areda survey, Erdogan is leading the race for the presidency of Turkey. 3,000 Turkish citizens participated in the survey, of which 49.8% declared who will vote for the outgoing Head of State. 21.7% of respondents are ready to vote for the leader of the Republican People’s Party, Kylychdaroglu, which corresponds to the second line of the ranking.
