The spokesperson of the Diyarbakir-based Huda Par (Free Cause Party), Serkan Ramanli, on Saturday said Erdogan’s party approached them a few months ago about joining the People Alliance for the May presidential and parliamentary elections. Talks stalled after the February 6 earthquakes but picked up again in the past week.
“There isn't any disagreement. We have a meeting at the party presidency tomorrow. After doing our assessments with our presidents, we will declare our decision to the public,” Ramanli told A Haber TV, which is close to Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Ramanli said his party will not field a presidential candidate. In 2018 they backed Erdogan’s candidacy.
Late on Friday night, the New Welfare party (Yeniden Refah) announced they had joined Erdogan’s People Alliance. The party is led by Fatih Erbakan, the son of Necmettin Erbakan, a prime minister of Turkey in the late 1990s and someone Erdogan considers a mentor.
Both Huda Par and Yeniden Refah are religiously conservative parties with small electoral bases. Huda Par, unofficially known as Hezbollah’s Turkish wing, was established in 2012 a decade after Hezbollah ended armed activities in Turkey. The party was created to challenge the hegemony of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy party (BDP), the predecessor of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in the southeast of Turkey. The party advocates for Kurdish rights within the state of Turkey.
Erdogan announced on Friday that elections will be held on May 14, a month earlier than originally scheduled. He will face the toughest challenge to his two-decade rule as an opposition alliance has vowed to end his reign.
Six parties from the opposition have formed the Nation Alliance, also known as the Table of Six. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), is their candidate to run against Erdogan for the presidency.
The Nation Alliance announced a 12-point roadmap of their plan if they come into power. Restoring a parliamentary system instead of the one-man rule of the executive presidency is key to their platform.
The pro-Kurdish, left-leaning HDP has not joined any alliance, but they have shown their willingness to cooperate with the CHP, inviting Kilicdaroglu to their headquarters to discuss the vote. Kilicdaroglu has accepted their invitation.
HDP was the third largest bloc in the Turkish parliament after the 2018 elections and are considered by many to be the kingmaker in this vote.
Last month’s devastating earthquakes as well as economic woes caused by the devaluation of the Turkish lira and inflation are expected to negatively impact Erdogan’s performance in the elections despite promises to compensate victims of the earthquakes that took the lives of some 48,000 people in the country.
By Azhi Rasul
