Turkey's ruling AK Party names Erdoğan as presidential candidate
Turkey's ruling party has formally nominated incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as its candidate to run in the presidential election set for June 24. "Lawmakers of the Justice and Development Party [AK Party] agree to back Erdoğan," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in his speech during a meeting at Grand National Assembly of Turkey in the capital Ankara on Thursday.
- Türkiye
- Agencies and A News
- Published Date: 12:00 | 03 May 2018
- Modified Date: 01:54 | 03 May 2018
Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party officially nominated President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for a second term on Thursday.
Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım announced the party's choice of Erdoğan -- also the AK Party chairman -- at a parliamentary group meeting.
"Our candidate is the man of our nation. With the alliance, we announce Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as our presidential candidate," Yıldırım said, referring to the People's Alliance the AK Party formed with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which has also endorsed Erdoğan .
The AK Party and MHP are allied for the June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections.
Erdoğan has served as president since 2014 -- Turkey's first popularly elected president. Before that, he served as prime minister, from 2003 to 2014.
Should he win the June election, Erdoğan would be Turkey's first leader under the presidential system, doing away with the prime minister's post, among other changes.
Erdoğan is also being supported by the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), a group with which he struck an election deal.
The main opposition People's Republican Party (CHP) is due to announce its candidate before the weekend.
Smaller parties have already put forward their choices. One of those is Meral Akşener, a former interior minister who is seeking to claim the centre-right vote.