Right-wing politician Meral Aksener has called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to release their mutual rival Selahattin Demirtas from prison, joining a growing array of voices demanding freedom for the Kurdish politician who is running in the presidential election next month.

Demirtas' ongoing detention has added to broader concerns about whether the June 24 elections, which Erdogan pulled forward by 17 months, will be democratic at a time when the country is under a state of emergency that has allowed the incumbent president to largely rule by decree.

The call by Aksener, who hopes to become Turkey’s first female president, followed others from main opposition candidate Muharrem Ince and the small Saadet Party’s Temel Karamollaoglu. While their appeals are widely seen as a gesture to win over Kurdish voters, who make up roughly 20% of the electorate, the hawkish Aksener’s is a bigger gamble, risking a backlash from her nationalist base that views Demirtas and his party with deep suspicion.

“Demirtas is still a defendant; a verdict has not been given on his behalf,” Aksener told reporters on Tuesday. “I would like for a person who has been nominated to comfortably campaign with us under equal conditions.”