Ankara mayor won’t run in CHP primaries
ANKARA
Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş will not run in the primaries to select the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) candidate for the next presidential elections as the main opposition party holds talks to set the procedures.
Yavaş expressed his decision not to take part in the process during a meeting with CHP Chairman Özgür Özel and İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu late on Feb. 9, the Turkish media reported.
Both Yavaş and İmamoğlu are considered to be the CHP’s two strongest candidates for the presidential elections. Özel has already said he won’t run for the presidency. In a social media message after the meeting, Özel underlined that the party remains unified and will walk to victory in unity.
The meeting between the three top CHP officials came a day before the 60-member party assembly gathered to discuss the modalities of the primaries, including the timing of the polls and criteria for potential contenders.
In an earlier statement, Özel had said that around 1.6 million CHP members were planned to vote for selecting the main opposition’s candidate.
Yavaş, who has already announced his opposition to holding primaries at a time when there is no presidential election looming in the immediate future, has suggested holding a massive public opinion survey in which people from all different political backgrounds can join, instead of the primaries that will take the pulse of only the members of the CHP into consideration.
İmamoğlu supports the idea of holding primaries for the selection of the main opposition’s presidential nominee.
