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Iyi party leader Meral Akşener
Photo: ADEM ALTAN / AFP
About two months before the presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey, the opposition alliance against long-time head of state President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan suffered a setback.
The right-wing party Iyi declared in Ankara that the party alliance no longer represents the national will.
Before the signal from Iyi party leader Meral Akşener to leave the alliance, there had been a dispute over the most promising candidate in the race against Erdoğan.
According to the broadcaster NTV, the representatives of the five parties remaining in the alliance want to meet on Saturday for consultations.
Erdoğan announced on Wednesday that he intends to stick to May 14 as the election date despite the earthquake.
Iyi party leader Akşener said the other parties in the opposition alliance had chosen the head of the Republican People's Party CHP, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, as their presidential candidate.
Your party cannot accept this personality.
In their view, the mayors of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, or of Ankara, Mansur Yavas, both of whom also belong to the CHP, would be better suited.
According to polls, both candidates would beat Erdoğan by a long way.
She asked Imamoglu and Yavas to declare their candidacy.
Despite Akşener's departure, CHP leader Kilicdaroglu was optimistic about the future of the alliance.
He expects other parties to join, he said.
Obviously in reaction to Akşener's actions, Kilicdaroglu denounced political maneuvering.
After a five-hour meeting with the other parties, the Iyi published a joint statement on Thursday that the alliance had agreed on a candidate.
The Iyi leadership then met until the early hours of the morning, and after further consultations with Iyi top officials, party leader Akşener issued the statement signaling a break with the allies.
Elections despite the earthquake
The Turkish opposition has been divided for years.
Most recently, however, she had increased her cooperation after beating Erdoğan's party in local elections in Istanbul and Ankara.
After a break in the alliance, the opposition would now go to the elections weakened again.
After the severe earthquake at the beginning of February, there were initially doubts as to whether the authorities would be able to prepare the elections in the earthquake area in the south-east of the country in good time and create the logistical framework for voting in view of the severe damage.
About 14 million people live in the affected region.
The earthquakes in the Turkish-Syrian border area killed more than 45,000 people in Turkey alone.
Criticism of the government's crisis management was loud.
But Erdoğan had already lost popularity among voters because of the high cost of living.
atb/AFP/Reuters
