Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that his ruling AK Party and its nationalist allies would continue on their planned route after the opposition coalition split over who should face him in a May national election.
“We predicted this months ago…Our aim is set…
Nonetheless, we stick to our plan, “Erdogan told state-owned TRT Haber.
Analysts say Friday’s public rift in an opposition alliance was a setback to the opposition’s dreams of overthrowing Erdogan, who has been in power for two decades.
Despite criticism of his government’s response to last month’s earthquakes, which killed over 45,000 people in Turkey, Erdogan announced this week that the polls would advance on May 14.
On Friday, Meral Aksener, head of the second-largest alliance party, the center-right nationalist IYI Party, announced its departure.
At a presidential candidate selection conference this week, five alliance parties suggested CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
Aksener suggested CHP mayors of Ankara and Istanbul, Mansur Yavas and Ekrem Imamoglu, as candidates.
The alliance’s biggest voter base is CHP. However, Kilicdaroglu has stressed that the coalition is not for political games and that other parties may join.
The five surviving opposition coalition leaders met Saturday and were scheduled to release a statement.
“The only hope for the crisis-struck opposition today is to keep Erdogan under 50% in the first round (of voting) and demonstrate unity in the second round,” said London-based RDM Consulting founder Erdem Aydin.
“IYI and CHP’s inadequate leadership and messaging caused a crisis. So Erdogan is the only winner, “Aydin.”
Erdogan’s popularity fell before last month’s earthquakes due to a cost of living problem.
Previous national elections failed to challenge the president. However, it has collaborated more after winning local elections in 2019 and gaining power in Istanbul and Ankara from the AK Party.
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which helped defeat Erdogan on May 14, called on the opposition to unify around democracy, justice, and freedom.
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