Political parties in Türkiye are scrambling to submit their parliamentary candidate lists for the upcoming elections on May 14 to the Supreme Election Council (YSK) before the deadline on Sunday.
Of the 36 parties eligible to compete in the much-anticipated polls, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), the main opposition’s Republican People's Party (CHP), as well as the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the Communist Party of Türkiye (TKP), the People’s Liberation Party (HKP) and the Nation Party (MP) have filed in their lists to the top election board so far.
After the deadline closes at 5 p.m. on Sunday, the council will evaluate submitted lists and allow the parties to compensate for any deficiencies or errors until April 14. The temporary candidate lists will be announced the next day. Final lists, including independent runners, will be made public on April 19 via radio, television, the Official Gazette and provincial platforms, the YSK informed.
The AK Party in the past week convened several times under the party's chairperson, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to finalize parliamentary lists and agreed to nominate current ministers in the Cabinet as first-place deputy candidates.
The AK Party has essentially refreshed its lists, opting to remove some 196 members of Parliament due to a rule limiting deputies to three terms only in favor of introducing new names to its seats in Parliament, a report from Turkish newspaper Sabah said. Bülent Turan, one of Erdoğan’s deputy chairs, championed the three-term rule.
The party has also favored members who served as ministers in past terms, including former Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekçi from Denizli province, former Prime Minister Lütfi Elvan from Mersin province and former Agriculture Minister Faruk Çelik from Artvin province.
President Erdoğan’s list primarily includes provincial chairs, standing mayors, authors, intellectuals, experienced names and more “surprise” figures, with the youngest candidate, Nisa Alptekin, 19, coming out of the Izmir province.
In addition to increasing the number of women on its list, the party nominated several members currently serving within the government as candidates from various cities.
Prominent members like Vice President Fuat Oktay, Labor and Social Security Minister Vedat Bilgin from Ankara, AK Party Deputy Chair Numan Kurtulmuş, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, Trade Minister Mehmet Muş and Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum from Istanbul, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar from Kayseri, and Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ from Şanlıurfa are among the party’s top member of Parliament candidates.
The party also nominated current spokesperson Ömer Çelik from Adana province while naming People’s Alliance partner MHP’s founder Alpaslan Türkeş’s son Tuğrul Türkeş from Ankara and author and journalist Hulki Cevizoğlu from Istanbul.
Former Parliament Speaker Bülent Arınç’s son Mücahit Arınç and Free Cause Party (HÜDA-PAR) Chair Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu, for Manisa and Batman provinces, respectively, are also on the list.
Erdoğan recently assured his party was “already hard at work on the Cabinet and top management of the next term.”
While the People’s Alliance welcomed the endorsement of the YRP and HÜDA-PAR for Erdoğan’s presidential run, the YRP, and the second-biggest member, the MHP, will compete with their candidates and own logos in the parliamentary vote.
HÜDA-PAR, on the other hand, will be nominating its candidates under the AK Party logo, its officials said.
Meanwhile, Erdoğan is set to uncover his party’s election manifesto and full candidate list on Monday to officially kick off the pre-election campaign with a modest ceremony considering the Feb. 6 earthquakes that killed more than 55,000 people in Türkiye’s southeast.
The party’s campaign is honed in on earthquake recovery and an ambitious set of economic and social goals for 2053 and 2071.
Early on Sunday, the six-party opposition bloc the Nation Alliance, helmed by the CHP and the Good Party (IP), unveiled their list after confirming earlier in the week that four smaller parties in the bloc, the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA), the Future Party (GP), the Felicity Party (SP) and the Democrat Party (DP), would nominate their candidates under the logo of the CHP.
While the Good Party, the bloc’s second-biggest party, is resolved to compete with its candidates under its emblem, the CHP’s list includes 29 candidates from the four parties for 15 provinces, with 13 candidates running from Istanbul.
The CHP has not been without criticism for skipping intraparty voting on potential parliamentary candidates, either, which was apparently in a bid to make room for candidates from its smaller allies.
The party was forced to admit candidates from its partners due to several political minnows in the bloc who are unlikely to win enough votes for parliamentary seats. Still, the Good Party opposed forming alliances in some constituencies and taking in candidates loyal to other opposition parties for lists in nearly 60 out of 81 provinces.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the head of the CHP and the bloc’s joint presidential candidate for May 14, is expected to sever all ties with his party in the wake of the elections, regardless of the outcome. Moreover, he could face isolation after discarding many of his fellow CHP members to make room for “outside” candidates.
Indeed, the party’s top deputy candidate from the eastern Erzincan province was announced to be Party for Change in Türkiye (TDP) Chair Mustafa Sarıgül a day after he met with Kılıçdaroğlu and confirmed his party would endorse the CHP leader in the presidential race.
On May 14, voters will receive two ballots, one for presidential and one for parliamentary candidates.
The YSK on Saturday drew lots to determine the order of the parties and alliances on the ballot, most notably placing the People’s Alliance on the eighth and the Nation Alliance on the 18th slot.
The official ballot lineup is now set as, the New Türkiye Party, the Party for Change in Türkiye, the Nation Party, the Rights and Freedoms Party, the Socialist Union of Forces Alliance, the Young Party, the Homeland Party, the People’s Alliance, the Labor and Freedom Alliance, the Great Türkiye Party, the Justice and Unity Party, the Motherland Party, the Innovation Party, the People’s Liberation Party, the National Path Party, the Patriotic Party, the Union of Forces Party, the Nation Alliance, the Ata Alliance and the Independent Türkiye Party.
The council sorted the parties within the alliances, too, arranging the People’s Alliance with the Great Union Party (BBP) in the first spot, followed by the AK Party, the YRP, and the MHP, while arranging the Nation Alliance with the GP in the first spot, followed by the DP, the DEVA, the CHP, the IP, and the SP.
The council also revealed the Democratic Left Party (DSP) and the HDP weren’t present for the draw while confirming that the Labor Party and the YRP wouldn’t participate in the elections.
The two parties aren’t the only ones dropping from the race. Growing disputes over parliamentary candidates within the opposition bloc have also pushed the IP’s chief adviser Aytun Çıray to withdraw his candidacy.
In a tweet late Saturday lamenting being “back to square one,” Çıray wrote, “With hopes of contributing to Türkiye on the more different ground after May 14, I am renouncing my deputy candidacy for the Good Party.”
“I will work hard in Izmir to ensure Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu becomes president and our votes, which fell under the threshold after the crisis, are increased,” he said, referring to a plight the Nation Alliance suffered in early March when Good Party Chair Meral Akşener split from the bloc over objections to Kılıçdaroğlu’s candidacy.
The IP leader returned to the bloc after persuading Kılıçdaroğlu to have Istanbul and Ankara’s popular mayors as vice presidents in his potential government. Still, cracks in the alliance have persisted, appearing most strikingly with Kılıçdaroğlu’s embracing of the HDP, known for its affiliation with the PKK terrorist group and currently fighting a closure lawsuit.
Çıray previously claimed their votes had “plummeted” after Akşener’s brief departure and that Kılıçdaroğlu would be a “lame duck” if the alliance were to win but fail to secure 300 parliamentary seats.
