Muharrem Ince, the chairperson of the Homeland Party (MP) and presidential candidate for the upcoming elections, called on the opposition to stop attacks by journalists and social media trolls funded by the Republican People’s Party (CHP).
“Trolls and alleged journalists fed by the CHP municipalities and party headquarters have entered a race with FETÖ (Gülenist Terror Group) and PKK accounts to smear us. So I called on the Nation Alliance one last time. Either you stop these vile slanderers, or I will leave everything beside and bring you down a peg,” Ince said.
Ince started his political career in the CHP and was elected as the party’s lawmaker from the Yalova constituency during the 2002 elections. He twice challenged the leadership of Kılıçdaroğlu, in 2014 and 2018, but failed to garner enough votes to defeat him in the CHP’s intra-party polls. Yet, Kılıçdaroğlu, whose party repeatedly lost all elections against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in two decades, nominated him as a contender against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the 2018 presidential elections. Erdoğan secured a landslide victory in the polls, while Ince is credited with boosting the CHP’s vote for the first time in decades in such an election to over 30%. After the post-election fallout with the CHP, Ince established his party in 2021.
The opposition is accusing him of splitting the votes against Erdoğan by becoming a presidential candidate and not supporting Kılıçdaroğlu.
