CHP, Felicity Party leaders meet to discuss local election alliance

ANKARA

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu met Felicity Party (Saadet Partisi) chair Temel Karamollaoğlu on Nov. 26 to discuss cooperation in the March 2019 local elections.

The two leaders spoke about partial cooperation in certain polling districts instead of an alliance that would cover the entire nation, Karamollaoğlu told reporters after the meeting.

Kılıçdaroğlu, for his part, thanked the Felicity Party leader.

The move comes as part of the CHP’s strategy to forge an alliance with other opposition parties that it cooperated with in the June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections.

İYİ Party and the Felicity Party have secured seats in parliament after entering the elections with the CHP under the “Nation Alliance.” The two parties would’ve otherwise failed to pass the electoral threshold.

CHP spokesperson Bülent Tezcan and İYİ Party deputy chair Koray Aydın have been carrying out talks for the past two weeks. The two parties are working to draw a strategy in line with the possible outcomes of an alliance between the ruling AKP and the MHP in several provinces.

İYİ Party is ready for alliance with the CHP, Hürriyet columnist Ahmet Hakan reported. İYİ Party leader Meral Akşener is planning to ask the CHP to support her party’s candidate for Ankara, he quoted Akşener as saying. In return, İYİ Party will support the CHP’s candidates in the Aegean province of İzmir and Istanbul, according to the journalist.

Kılıçdaroğlu and Akşener are expected to meet again on the first week of December.

The local elections in 81 provinces and hundreds of districts in Turkey are scheduled to be held on March 31, 2019.