The six-party opposition coalition announced that it had not started to discuss a presidential candidate for this year’s critical elections in Türkiye and that only debates on the topic would be initiated soon.

In their 10th meeting in the capital Ankara, which lasted for 9.5 hours, it was revealed that the opposition did not discuss what voters were most expecting – a name for presidential elections – and raised questions about what the coalition discussed so far for a year in their previous nine meetings.

Türkiye is heading toward presidential and parliamentary elections this year. The expected date is June, while the ruling party has hinted at the possibility of slightly earlier elections. Rumors are swirling that elections might be held in late April or early May, giving the opposition even less time to prepare.

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) are partners under the People's Alliance, with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan serving as the alliance's candidate for the upcoming presidential elections.

The six allied opposition parties are running out of time, bickering about everything from policy and strategy to which candidate to field against the 68-year-old leader.

The opposition is formed by the Republican People's Party (CHP), the Felicity Party (SP), the Good Party (IP), the Future Party (GP), the Democrat Party (DP) and the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA).

According to a joint statement signed by the leaders of the six-party coalition following their 10th meeting, the parties evaluated the past year at the gathering.

The parties once again reiterated their plan to consolidate democracy and implement the "strengthened parliamentary system," which limits the president to a seven-year term and requires that the president sever his ties to political parties and prohibits them from joining a political party after their term.

The main texts drafted in 2022 mentioned the strengthened parliamentary system agreement, basic principles and objectives, election security, institutional reform, and the strengthened parliamentary system constitutional amendment proposal.

The statement further said that the parties approached the finalization of two more texts: "a road map for the transition period" and a "joint policies text" that will be introduced to the public in a meeting on Jan. 30. These two texts were created to define the cooperation structure of the parties.

"After explaining the basis of our cooperation with the 'Basic Principles and Objectives' text, the political framework of our cooperation detailed in the 'Strengthened Parliamentary System Consensus' text, the political insurance in the 'Election Security' text, the legal columns in the 'Strengthened Parliamentary System Constitutional Amendment Proposal,' the institutional infrastructure in the 'Institutional Reform' text, we now present the process management system with our road map. We will define our common concrete steps in every field with the 'Common Policies' text."

It has been nearly five years since Türkiye switched from a parliamentary system to the current presidential one after most Turkish voters opted to create the new system. Turkish voters narrowly endorsed an executive presidency on April 16, 2017, with a referendum of 51.4% votes in favor. The official transition to the new system occurred when Erdoğan was sworn in as the president in Parliament after the 2018 general elections, which he won by a majority of 52.6% votes.

‘No rival, no vision yet’

"There is no candidate. The election date has come. We still do not know who we will compete with at the ballot box," Erdoğan said during the AK Party's extended provincial heads meeting on Thursday.

"Six people have been gathering around a table for months, talking and arguing," he said, adding that there is "no vision, no program, no project."

He also indicated that the six-party coalition is waiting for a sign from the West to approve a candidate and they lacked the authority to choose the candidate themselves.

"They've been around the world, but they probably haven't gotten the signal yet."

More frequent meetings

On the other hand, the six-party coalition also announced plans to meet more frequently ahead of elections and said the next talks would take place on Jan. 26, hosted by the IP.

It stated two main conditions to implement its vision: "the choosing of the joint candidate as president" and "getting the necessary majority in Parliament for constitutional reform."

The opposition put aside their differences and united in the single task of unseating Erdoğan's allies in municipal elections in 2019.

They won mayoral races in Türkiye’s three main cities – Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. Now, they hope to do it all over again.

Yet, one of the potential presidential candidates of the opposition, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, was banned from politics last month for slander in a case stemming from his 2019 victory.

Imamoğlu can keep serving as mayor while the appeal process winds its way through the courts.

But a separate Interior Ministry probe against his office on "terrorism" charges threatens to sideline him sooner.

The twin cases make Imamoğlu's candidacy extremely risky for the opposition.

However, the case of the conviction of Imamoğlu also exposed the opposition's internal rivalries.

The court's verdict caught Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the head of Imamoğlu's main opposition CHP party, in Berlin, where he was trying to rally Western backing for his candidacy.

Bookish and less telegenic than the mayor, Kılıçdaroğlu has struggled to secure the support of the other five leaders, some of whom would rather see Imamoğlu run.

The most prominent of these, nationalist IP head Meral Akşener used Kılıçdaroğlu’s absence to full effect.

She rushed to Istanbul in a show of solidarity with the mayor, giving him a hug on stage and raising his hand in victory during an impromptu protest rally.

Kılıçdaroğlu ended up cutting short his Berlin stay, returning in time for a second rally at which the opposition leaders appeared on stage together for the first time.

Akşener's support for the Istanbul mayor rankled Kılıçdaroğlu, who ended up scheduling a dinner with the IP leader two weeks later to try to win her back on his side.

Her push for Imamoğlu's candidacy appears to have stalled.

On the other side, the head of the DEVA has thrown his hat in the ring that is Türkiye’s upcoming presidential race.

"If the opposition bloc were to endorse me as the presidential candidate, I could both win and perform the job flawlessly," DEVA Chairperson Ali Babacan told reporters on Wednesday during a visit to the southeastern Diyarbakır province.

Kılıçdaroğlu says the six parties will announce their joint candidate once the election date is set.