The secularist main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) is yet to announce a candidate that would compete against main rival President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, while several names have come out as possible candidates for the June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections.
As Turkey's main leftist party, the CHP first sought to form an alliance with the far-right Good Party (İP) and the Islamic conservative Felicity Party (SP), with the possibility of having former President Abdullah Gül as the joint candidate. However, intra-party criticism against Gül, coupled with İP Chairwoman Meral Akşener declaring that she will run for president, the CHP is now considering several other names.
Among the possible candidate options, who are very distinct from each other, CHP Yalova Deputy Muharrem İnce, Istanbul Deputy İlhan Kesici, Eskişehir province Mayor Yılmaz Büyükerşen, and Abdullatif Şener, a former deputy of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), who also has a political past with the SP, emerge as the figures with higher chances of being nominated as the ultimate candidate.
CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said earlier in the week that the party's candidate would be someone with an economic background, who has strong acumen in the field, and also someone who will not engage in polemics and harsh discussions during the campaign period. Kılıçdaroğlu said the candidate would be an easygoing person, and if necessary, it would be himself that would be carrying out the fight [against rival candidates].
İnce has been a strong intraparty rival against Kılıçdaroğlu for the CHP leadership, though he has failed in all attempts. Coming from a moderate conservative background, the 53-year-old deputy is also portrayed as a populist and a pragmatic figure. The CHP electoral base and party provincial branches reportedly support İnce, who has been a deputy of Yalova province for the CHP since 2002. Prior to his roles in politics, İnce, who is known for his nationalist tendencies, worked as a teacher and a school principal.
Another deputy is 69-year-old Kesici. One of the advantages Kesici believes he will have as a candidate is his center-right background. Prior to joining politics with the CHP in 2007, Kesici is known for his political life at the center-right Motherland Party (ANAP). Prior to running for Parliament in ANAP lines, Kesici also competed against Erdoğan for Istanbul mayor in the municipal elections in 1994. However, Erdoğan came through as the winner of the elections and became the mayor of Istanbul. Kesici, who held several bureaucratic positions prior to active politics, is a low-key figure and has a pro-Western liberal worldview.
Another figure from CHP, Eskişehir province Mayor Büyükerşen, has also been loudly pronounced as a possible candidate, however, political rumors have said that his old age, 81, is acting as an obstacle for his candidacy. Büyükerşen comes from a traditional leftist CHP background, which makes him popular among traditional CHP supporters. Yet, compared to İnce and Kesici, he seems to be less popular for the decision-makers, as the CHP will need to appeal to a larger and diverse group of voters to achieve success in the elections. Büyükerşen is also an academic with an economic background, which is one of the criteria the CHP chairman has said the possible candidate will have.
Perhaps the most distant to the CHP ideology, Şener has also been mentioned as a possible candidate for the CHP.
Şener, 64, is a former AK Party deputy, however, he began his political life in the conservative Welfare Party (RP) in 1991 and later in the Virtue Party (FP), which was the continuation of the RP after the RP was shut down. Şener joined the AK Party in 2001, as one of the founders, and stayed with the party until 2008. Due to disagreements, Şener parted ways with the AK Party, and established the conservative Turkey Party (TP) in 2009. However, he has not been successful in the elections since, unable to get into Parliament. Sources close to the CHP say that Şener, also an academic, has popularity among CHP voters for his criticism of Erdoğan, though he does not share leftist tendencies.
The party has given the decision-making power to Kılıçdaroğlu, who has refrained from proposing himself as the candidate of his party. Many in the CHP circles have also said that the party leader should be the candidate for the party. Yet, Kılıçdaroğlu, who has not won any elections since he became the party leader since taking office in 2010, after the resignation of former Chairman Deniz Baykal due to a sex tape scandal, has refrained from making such a move.
Erdoğan on Friday called on Kılıçdaroğlu to run for president, instead of looking for alternatives.
"You are the most befitting person to that description so why don't you become a candidate?" he asked during a speech in Ankara, referring to the criteria the CHP chairman said the possible candidate will have. On Thursday, CHP group Vice Chairman Özgür Özel said the party will announce a surprise name that would "make Erdoğan really angry." The CHP has also been criticized for only focusing on being anti-Erdoğan, rather than proposing policies that would make the party more appealing in the elections.
Last
week, Turkey's Parliament passed a bill calling for early presidential and parliamentary elections on June 24.
