Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) candidates will run for parliament under Green Left Party’s lists in Turkey’s upcoming elections on 14 May, HDP co-chair Mithat Sancar confirmed during a live broadcast on Wednesday.
The announcement came hours after the Constitutional Court refused to postpone the closure case against the HDP until after the elections as the party had requested.
The party is currently scheduled to submit its defence on 11 April, two days after the deadline to submit candidate lists to the Supreme Board of Elections, which still leaves enough time for the case to run its course and the court to rule to shut the HDP down before the elections.
If the party is shut down, almost 500 of its top cadres will be banned from running for office.
“We made this analysis when the case was first filed,” Sancar said. “This case would not finish in time, it would delay until the election period, and an atmosphere of threat of closure would be created to grab the HDP by the throat.”
The Court of Cassation’s Chief Public Prosecutor had originally filed the case in June 2021.
“This is not a matter of our party. These elections are of vital importance for Turkey,” Sancar said. “And we believe that we are the biggest guarantee for the country to truly achieve a democratic transformation, a free future and a great peace when this government changes. We have no right, chance or luxury to deprive our people and all of society of such a great force in such a matter.”
“We cannot leave this process to the mercy of the government or the initiative of the court. I am announcing as the co-chair that yes, we will enter the elections with the Green Left Party. This decision is final,” Sancar said, showing the cameras the new party’s logo.
HDP had hinted at the option to run under the Green Left lists earlier, and Sancar himself had said the party was working on alternatives. “It is not possible that we allow in any way the possibility of a future parliament or political scene without the HDP,” he said on 10 March.
Earlier in the day the party also announced that it would not field a presidential candidate, strengthening Turkish opposition’s presidential challenger Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s chances of winning against incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Some analysts have read the court’s move as a negative response to the announcement, as two thirds of its members have been appointed by Erdoğan himself.
