Turkish opposition joins forces for parliament vote
Four of Turkey's opposition parties, including the largest, are forming an alliance to challenge the ruling party for parliamentary seats.
Turkey’s fractious opposition is clambering this week to stitch together an electoral alliance after efforts to unite behind a single presidential candidate able to challenge incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a June 24 election crashed.
Erdogan’s decision to pull forward by 17 months presidential and parliamentary elections caught other political parties off balance, even though speculation had swirled for months he would go to the polls sooner rather than later to usher in constitutional changes that vastly empower the presidency and effectively sideline parliament.
Now, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has turned to the parliamentary vote and agreed with the smaller and conservative Good (Iyi), Felicity and Democrat parties to contest that race together, CNN Turk reported.
Their platform, which includes a pledge to revert to a parliamentary system, will help parties with less than 10% of the national vote cross the threshold to enter the assembly and, they hope, deprive Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) of a legislative majority. A formal announcement will come Thursday, the report read.
