Co-Chair Buldan: HDP will nominate candidate in a week

HDP (People's Democratic Party) co-chair Pervin Buldan said the party will announce the name of its presidential candidate for the upcoming elections in the "first week of February," earlier than the main opposition Nation Alliance.

The HDP promised to align itself with five other leftist parties that make up the Labour and Freedom Alliance (EOI) in Turkey, but did not yet fully close the doors to "direct dialogue and open negotiations" to work with the Nation Alliance.

HDP officials said they could withdraw their candidacy if the National Alliance "officially addresses them," according to BBC Turkish.

"The HDP and the other members of the alliance have yet to determine the presidential candidate, but the party has high expectations for a female candidate," Buldan told the BBC.

Unconfirmed reports frequently mention the name of Gultan Kisanak, the former mayor of Diyarbakir who is still in prison, as the HDP candidate.

But the HDP is also weighing the pros and cons of nominating someone from prison.

Meanwhile, the HDP expects to participate in the elections with a joint list of the EOI, and it will not show any flexibility in this regard, while the TIP (Turkish Workers' Party) and the EMEP (Workers' Party) of the alliance plan to contest the elections in some regions under their own logos.

The HDP administration opposes the separate list on the grounds that the alliance will win fewer deputies if the alliance's parties contest the elections under their own names.