In Turkey, only ten weeks before the presidential election that Recep Tayyip Erdogan can more than ever hope to win. The Turkish president will certainly benefit from the explosion of the opposition which, on Friday, failed to choose a common candidate to face him.
The alliance of six Turkish opposition parties split on Friday over the choice of a common candidate to face outgoing head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the presidential election on May 14.
The Turkish head of state, in power for twenty years and candidate for his own succession, announced on Wednesday that the presidential and legislative elections would be maintained on the scheduled date, despite the devastating earthquake of February 6 which killed more than 45,000 people. The Good Party (nationalist), the second largest formation of the opposition alliance, refused to line up behind the candidacy of Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, the leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP, social democrat), the main opposition party.
In a televised speech, the founder and president of the Good Party, Meral Aksener, deplored the choice of Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, considering that it resulted from “small calculations” contrary to the general interest of the Turks. “Since yesterday, the Table of Six (the nickname of the opposition alliance, editor’s note) has lost its ability to reflect the will of the nation,” said the only female opposition figure. “This alliance is no longer a common sense platform where we can discuss potential candidates: it has become an office of notaries working on the approval of a single candidate,” she denounced.
Unexpected turnaround This is an unexpected turn of events. There were many tensions between the CHP party, the Kemalist party, and the Good (nationalist) party. But the need to stand up against Recep Tayyip Erdogan has so far made it possible to overcome differences, reports our correspondent in Istanbul, Céline Pierre-Magnani. While the authorities have been widely criticized for the flawed management of the seismic disaster of February 6, the coalition had a boulevard in front of it. But it was on the choice of the common presidential candidate that the front unity broke out.
At the head of the main opposition party, Kemal Kiliçdaroglu could be a natural candidate, but the polls are not as favorable to him as to others. Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas are regular winners against Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But the departure of Meral Aksener may constitute an opportunity for the opposition coalition which could get closer to the other far-left coalition, formed around the pro-Kurdish HDP party. With approximately 12% of the voting intentions, an alliance could make it possible to compensate for the loss of the nationalist vote of the Good party.
Source : rfi.fr
