After long weeks of negotiations, the six Turkish opposition parties united under the name "Table of Six" have announced their candidate against Erdogan in the elections scheduled for May 14: Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the largest party at the table, the Republican People's Party (CHP) .
The announcement of Kilicdaroglu as a candidate was accompanied by a 90-minute drama, when the head of the second largest party around the Table of Six, Meral Akşener, announced that she was not ready to support Kilicdaroglu; following negotiations, she agreed. The incident illustrates the difficulties that Kilicdaroglu will have to face. First, he is the candidate of a fairly diverse coalition, in which a secular and Social-Democrat party, an Islamist party, a nationalist party, and conservative parties sit together. Therefore, agreements between the partners are difficult to achieve, and the recent disputes have proven that the six failed to build functioning negotiation mechanisms, and this in turn could lead to more crises. Also, the relationship between the candidate and the pro-Kurdish party, which was not invited to take official part in the table of six, even though it is expected to win about 10 percent of the votes, will be another point of friction between the various parties.
Another weakness of Kilicdaroglu is the impression he gives off. Many in the Turkish public opinion do not take him seriously and decry a lack of charisma. It is possible that his religious identity, Alevi and not Sunni, will also hurt his chances with the more conservative audience. Akşener herself justified her opposition to his candidacy by saying that other figures in the opposition, including the mayors of Istanbul and Ankara, have a greater chance of victory. Kilicdaroglu, who has been the head of the opposition in Turkey for more than ten years, without a single success in the national elections, will have to shed his "loser" image in order to convince the voters.
The leader of the CHP will also have to deal with a government system working against him, which will not allow him a full media presence, and with a violent campaign against him on social media, where he has been attacked by regime supporters for many years. In this context, it is difficult to assess the consequences of the results of the earthquake for Kilicdaroglu’s chances. Turkish society is so divided that transitions between political camps are extremely rare. However, Kilicdaroglu did manage to unite the opposition around him and is facing Erdogan, at a time when the incumbent President is at a significant point of weakness and it is difficult to predict his political fate.
After long weeks of negotiations, the six Turkish opposition parties united under the name "Table of Six" have announced their candidate against Erdogan in the elections scheduled for May 14: Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the largest party at the table, the Republican People's Party (CHP) .
The announcement of Kilicdaroglu as a candidate was accompanied by a 90-minute drama, when the head of the second largest party around the Table of Six, Meral Akşener, announced that she was not ready to support Kilicdaroglu; following negotiations, she agreed. The incident illustrates the difficulties that Kilicdaroglu will have to face. First, he is the candidate of a fairly diverse coalition, in which a secular and Social-Democrat party, an Islamist party, a nationalist party, and conservative parties sit together. Therefore, agreements between the partners are difficult to achieve, and the recent disputes have proven that the six failed to build functioning negotiation mechanisms, and this in turn could lead to more crises. Also, the relationship between the candidate and the pro-Kurdish party, which was not invited to take official part in the table of six, even though it is expected to win about 10 percent of the votes, will be another point of friction between the various parties.
Another weakness of Kilicdaroglu is the impression he gives off. Many in the Turkish public opinion do not take him seriously and decry a lack of charisma. It is possible that his religious identity, Alevi and not Sunni, will also hurt his chances with the more conservative audience. Akşener herself justified her opposition to his candidacy by saying that other figures in the opposition, including the mayors of Istanbul and Ankara, have a greater chance of victory. Kilicdaroglu, who has been the head of the opposition in Turkey for more than ten years, without a single success in the national elections, will have to shed his "loser" image in order to convince the voters.
The leader of the CHP will also have to deal with a government system working against him, which will not allow him a full media presence, and with a violent campaign against him on social media, where he has been attacked by regime supporters for many years. In this context, it is difficult to assess the consequences of the results of the earthquake for Kilicdaroglu’s chances. Turkish society is so divided that transitions between political camps are extremely rare. However, Kilicdaroglu did manage to unite the opposition around him and is facing Erdogan, at a time when the incumbent President is at a significant point of weakness and it is difficult to predict his political fate.