CHP's challenges as the 'most prepared party'

Because there are only 139 days left before the general elections, it is now more frequently being asked everywhere, “What is the opposition doing?”

This focus is based on the fact that the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) is entering the elections as a party and not as independent candidates. The possible outcomes of this decision are creating confusion.

It can be said that the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) is the “most comfortable” of the opposition parties, because its voters generally do not question the MHP very much in terms of its mission.

As always, it is the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) that is receiving the bulk of criticism. The debates, concerns and suspicions never end regarding how it will prepare for elections or what its vote share will be. This should not only be seen as the comfort zone of criticizing the CHP. Indeed, the main reason is the fact that it is the main opposition - the party that is the closest of all opposition parties to being the government.

In the eyes of the opposition voter who sees the June elections as vital, the CHP has both a tougher and a more convenient environment in this election. The difficulty comes from not only being unable to create hope that it will become the government, but also from the fact that the HDP’s decision to compete as a party might take votes away from the CHP.

It is a source of concern that the CHP is not visible at the desired level, despite the short time left.

Many also believe that the government's current practices offer unlimited opportunities to the opposition in every field. 

My contacts and observations with the CHP administration reveal the following: The party has set up a five-member committee to manage the election period. It has conducted a number of surveys and evaluated the results.

In light of this data, all projects have been completed. Special work has been conducted in those provinces where seats were lost by just 1 or 2 percent in previous elections. Measures to be taken have been determined. Meetings, primarily with retirees and subcontracted workers, as well as with representatives of all social segments, have been held and views and suggestions have been taken on board.

After all this activity, the ambitious sentence, “We are the most prepared party at the moment for the elections" is being spoken...

Despite this ambitious sentence, I question the CHP's promotional strategy. Erdoğan’s decision to chair the cabinet meeting on Jan. 19 is the most obvious acknowledgment of Davutoğlu’s failure and incompetence. For this reason, the CHP should address and target Davutoğlu, not Erdoğan and Erdoğan’s decisions.

Davutoğlu, whose “incompetence and incapacity” were proven during his term as the minister of foreign affairs, according to the CHP, played the leading role in what the government calls Turkey’s “precious loneliness” in the world, transforming the country into one where sleeping terror cells have been accommodated.  

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), after 13 years, has left the country’s management to “parallel subcontractors,” has been stuck in the “swamp of corruption,” has confessed failure even in the fields it was boasting about; and it is handing over a Turkey where domestic peace is in danger, where the state is not functioning: The AKP must go now, because it generates problems, but does not solve them. This is what the CHP must tell voters.

Let's see what the outcome of these words will be. Voters plenty of convenient opportunities for the opposition and want action.