Several opposition candidates for the upcoming June 24 parliamentary elections have resigned from candidacy to avoid the possibility of not being able to secure seats.
On Monday, the political parties submitted their finalized candidate lists for parliament to the Supreme Electoral Council (YSK). Each list had 600 names from 81 provinces. In each province, parties establish ranks for the candidates and the number of candidates for each province is determined according to the electoral distribution of the provinces. The candidates who are placed to the top ranks have a higher possibility to be elected, while for the others competition is more heated. This has been voiced as a main concern and reason behind the dissatisfaction of the candidates with the lists. The latest resignation came from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) yesterday. Arzu Mandalı Sucu, who was one of CHP's Tekirdağ Province candidates, resigned yesterday since she was placed in the 6th rank on the list of her electoral district. In the last elections, which were held in Nov. 2015, the number of CHP parliamentarians from Tekirdağ was province numbered three and the total number of Tekirdağ's parliamentarians in the Parliament was six; an indicator that Sucu's chance of being a CHP parliamentarian from Tekirdağ Province for the next term was quite low with this ranking.
"During the [party] surveys, I was placed in the 3rd rank. However, suddenly some personal ambitions emerged and I was placed to the 6th rank as a candidate," Sucu said regarding her resignation, referring to the surveys that political parties conduct in provinces with the local party members in order to determine the candidates as well as their ranks in the lists. Although the parties expected to go along with the survey results while determining the candidates, the headquarters of the parties have the last words on the lists, which may lead to some changes. Five other parliamentary candidates of the CHP have already withdrawn from elections on Tuesday, making the total number of the resignations six with Sucu.
One of the resigned candidates, from southern Gaziantep Province, Nesrin Tuncel said the party did not hold a primary election due to the limited time frame, adding that she nevertheless would have preferred primary elections as she believes they are a more democratic way to determine candidates.
The Good Party (İP) is another party that is struggling with candidates who were displeased with their ranks. The Niğde Province candidate of the party Naim Erem has become the latest name to resign for being placed second in the lists. Other resignations came from Afyonkarahisar, İzmir, Konya and Bilecik candidates. In Uşak Province, 14 members of the party's local branch gave their resignation to the party itself due to their discontent with the candidate lists.
