CHP leader vows to win Ankara, Istanbul in local elections

ANKARA

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on Oct. 12 pledged to win two crucial metropolitans of Turkey, Istanbul and Ankara, in the upcoming local elections in March 2019.

“We have significant targets for the local elections. We will win Balıkesir, Uşak, Denizli, Antalya, Mersin, Adana, Ankara and Istanbul in the upcoming period,” Kılıçdaroğlu said, addressing CHP mayors.

He recalled that it was the CHP municipalities that kicked off groundbreaking metro projects in both Ankara and Istanbul. Services such as nurseries and family insurance were started by the CHP, he said.

“We are not handing out bread and potatoes, we are handing out cards. We do not display the poverty of individuals,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.

Meanwhile, CHP mayors have been “under pressure,” he said, adding that the government was sending inspectors while the CHP was providing services. CHP mayors will never be forced to resign, said the CHP leader in a reference to allegations that the ruling AKP had forced some of its own mayors to quit ahead of the June 24 elections.

Kılıçdaroğlu also said AKP mayors receive permission for urban transformation projects within a week, while CHP municipalities are not even given permission.

Referring to the question of the CHP’s possible alliance with other political parties, Kılıçdaroğlu said his party would have an alliance with “citizens who have voted for the AKP for years.”

“We will have an alliance at the ballot boxes,” he said.