Support for Kilicdaroglu grows among Turkey’s wider opposition
Having been nominated by six-strong bloc, other parties indicate support for Kemal Kilicdaroglu in May presidential election
ISTANBUL — Having secured the nomination as the main opposition alliance’s presidential candidate, Kemal Kilicdaroglu received a tide of congratulatory messages from the heads of parties outside the alliance, raising the possibility of wider backing in the May vote.
A weekend of horse-trading shored up the Table of Six alliance after one of the coalition’s main figures spoke out against Kilicdaroglu’s candidacy on Friday.
Meral Aksener, leader of the nationalist Good Party, threw the six-party bloc into turmoil when she condemned her fellow party heads for putting personal ambition ahead of the country in selecting Kilicdaroglu, leader of the centrist Republican People’s Party (CHP).
By Monday evening, however, she was standing alongside Kilicdaroglu and the four other leaders when his candidacy was formally declared.
