ANKARA, February 11. /TASS/. Members of Turkey's main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), will choose a candidate for the country’s presidential election on March 23, the CNN Turk TV channel reported.
The political party’s central executive committee determined the date at a meeting on Monday, the TV channel said, adding that the decision to start preparations for the presidential election was earlier made at the party congress.
Earlier, CHP Head Ozgur Ozel held a separate meeting with Istanbul and Ankara mayors, Ekrem Imamoglu and Mansur Yavas. The first governor, who is currently the party’s front-runner, refused to participate in the intra-party elections, while the latter argued that the CHP’s main agenda should revolve around the current situation in the economy, not the primary election, the Cumhuriyet newspaper wrote. Yavas also noted that he will be unable to fulfill his duties as Ankara mayor if he is nominated as a party candidate.
Ozel earlier called on the authorities to decide on holding early presidential and parliamentary elections, indicating that the CHP is ready to participate in them this year. Meanwhile, Turkey should hold its next presidential and parliamentary elections only in 2028. The ruling Justice and Development Party, led by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has so far rejected the possibility of snap elections.
Yavas and Imamoglu are considered the most likely opposition presidential candidates. According to the recent survey by the Opinion Research Corporation (ORC), 58.1% of opposition supporters would cast their ballots for Yavas if the presidential election was held today, while 59.6% intend to vote for Imamoglu. The poll was conducted from February 1 to 5 among 6,100 respondents in 41 provinces of Turkey.