Leaders of six Turkish opposition parties, dubbed the Table of Six under the Nation Alliance for the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections, met on Thursday to discuss their joint presidential candidate.
The alliance, led by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and backed by centre-right parties as well as two breakaways from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), announced after the meeting that they have come to an agreement on a candidate, but postponed the announcement of the name to Monday, 6 March, the CHP announced.
According to Halk TV, the alliance was discussing putting up CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as its candidate. Five of the parties were in agreement, while centre-right Good Party (İYİP) Chairwoman Meral Akşener wished to hold off until an advisory board meeting.
Monday’s meeting will be hosted by the Felicity Party (SP), an Islamist party from the same tradition that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s AKP broke away from two decades ago. While the opposition candidate remains to be clarified, Erdoğan has long declared his intention to run again for the AKP.
According to Turkish law, the elections must be held by mid-June. President Erdoğan has cited 14 May as the election date, however, it has not been officially announced.
