New election alliance in Turkey bad news for Erdogan

Formation of a new alliance in Turkey for next year’s presidential and national elections may be bad news for both the ruling block and the opposition, depending on the circumstances, a renowned analyst said. 

The Pro-Kurdish HDP-led (Peoples’ Democratic Party) Labor and Freedom Alliance (EOI,) which was formed over the weekend, has not yet committed to either the ruling People’s Alliance or the opposition’s Nation’s Alliance. 

The emergence of this new alliance may be bad news for President Tayyip  Erdogan, who already announced his candidacy for the presidential elections, according to veteran journalist and analyst Murat Yetkin.

But that depends on the attitude of the opposition front, Yetkin said. 

“Whether EOI will produce its own candidate depends on the identity of the joint candidate to be announced by the Nation’s Alliance and the principles it will declare,” Yetkin said. 

HDP co-chair Mithat Sancar has already said that they could support the six-party platform depending on the name and principles of their joint candidate. 

Similarly, the EOI in its initial declaration gave particular importance to the resolution of the Kurdish question through democratic and peaceful means.

Yetkin said if the EOI could get 13 percent of the votes in the presidential elections, this could change the balance between all the alliances. So if the candidate can be someone whom the Kurdish and left wing electors carn vote, this would be bad news for Erdogan.