Erdogan rival Aksener announces Turkey's newest party
A nationalist politician who's already attracted plenty of attention as a potential challenger to Turkey's president has officially formed her new Iyi Parti.
A nationalist female politician who is being touted as a potential rival to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has finally launched her party, calling it Iyi Parti, or “Good Party.”
“Turkey is weary, the nation is weary, the state is exhausted,” Meral Aksener said in an address to throngs of supporters in the capital Ankara yesterday, "There is no other way [for Turkey] than a change."
Whether her party can deliver results worthy of its name is a matter of heated debate. Presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in November 2019, when an executive presidential system that was approved in an April referendum kicks in.
Aksener, a folksy former interior minister, confirmed yesterday she will run for president against Erdogan, who remains a redoubtable foe. The results of a September opinion poll that was seen by Al-Monitor suggest that he commands the support of some 49% of voters and that 20% of them are nationalists.
