06/03/2023 1:29 pm (act. 06/03/2023 1:29 pm)
Kilicdaroglu likely to challenge Erdogan as front-runner ©APA/AFP
In Turkey, the opposition alliance against former head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan is apparently six again. The right-wing IYI party proposed an agreement for a return to the alliance. The mayors of Istanbul and Ankara, Ekren Imamoglu and Mansur Yavas, are expected to become vice presidents if the alliance wins the May 14 election, the party said on Monday. The main opposition party, the CHP, accepted the proposal.
The other parties were deliberating on IYI leader Meral Aksener’s proposal, a representative of the Republican People’s Party said. The plan is for CHP chief Kemal Kilicdaroglu to run for president as the Alliance’s top candidate against Erdogan.
The alliance only fell apart on Friday, just two months before presidential and parliamentary elections. Aksener had declared that the alliance no longer represented the national will. Both Imamoglu and Yavas would have a better chance of winning the election than Kilicdaroglu. All three belong to the CHP. This would have weakened the opposition in the elections. President Erdogan and his conservative Islamist party, the AKP, may be facing their biggest challenge in their two decades at the helm of Turkey. Polls point to a tight race. Furthermore, he and his government are under a lot of criticism after the devastating earthquake a month ago. They are accused of inadequate and too slow crisis management.
At first, there were also doubts whether the authorities would be able to prepare the elections in the earthquake zone in the south-east of the country in time and create the logistical framework for the vote in view of the serious damage. About 14 million people live in the affected region. Earthquakes in the Turkish-Syrian border area killed more than 45,000 people in Turkey alone. Millions were left homeless and placed in emergency shelters.