Good Party (IP) leader Meral Akşener announced on Friday that her party broke up with six-party alliance of the opposition, saying Republican People's Party (CHP) Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu will be candidate for the alliance they would not take part of, on the grounds that they nominated Kılıçdaroğlu, Daily Sabah reports.
Akşener said the alliance of other five parties opposed their proposed candidates, either Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu or Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş. She called either mayors to run for president in a news conference following a meeting with her party's general administrative board.
The Turkish opposition alliance, known as "table for six," was headed to the final countdown after a lengthy meeting between party leaders Thursday. The six-party alliance announced after their 12th meeting that they would "share the final statement" on their candidate for upcoming presidential elections with the public.
The alliance's joint candidate will stand against incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whose ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) conceded a defeat in the past two decades in every election it competed. Erdoğan implied on Wednesday that elections will be held on May 14, as he announced long before Feb. 6 earthquakes that killed thousands in Turkey’s south and stirred up a debate over the possible postponement of the vote. The opposition's meeting, hosted by the Felicity Party (SP), was scheduled to be held earlier but the disaster led to a delay to March 2.
"We have reached a common understanding concerning our joint presidential candidate for the 13th presidential election and the road map for the transition process," the statement by the alliance said. It said the leaders would brief their parties' executive boards before meeting again on Monday "to share the final statement with the public."
Media reports said the party leaders largely voiced support for the candidacy of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, chair of the Republican People's Party (CHP) but that there remained opposition to his candidacy within Good Party (IP) of Meral Akşener, the second largest party of the alliance after the CHP. The IP earlier appeared to be the only opponent in the alliance to the candidacy of Kılıçdaroğlu, while other parties reportedly supported it. Akşener convened her party's lawmakers for a five-hour meeting after the opposition alliance's meeting. She was also scheduled to meet local representatives of her party in 81 provinces on Saturday but that meeting was rescheduled to Friday, pointing out that the IP may review its support to the alliance.
Several CHP lawmakers and prominent figures of the party shared Kılıçdaroğlu's photo on social media, with the slogan "We start!" following the alliance's meeting.