Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader, Devlet Bahçeli, has said that he is considering a new formula to continue the alliance with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in the local elections scheduled for March 2019.
"We can proceed with the ‘political combining' model. Since there is no legal basis, an un-codified political combining can be formed," Bahçeli said in article published in the Habertürk newspaper yesterday, since relevant laws do not allow a formal alliance in the upcoming polls.
What the MHP chairman called a "political combining," was interpreted by some pundits as a model in which the two parties would share district mayoral and alderman positions especially in metropolises for the local elections. The AK Party and MHP formed the People's Alliance for the June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections. The alliance received a majority in the Parliament by 52.6 percent of the votes in parliamentary elections. As the alliance proved to be successful, the parties are looking to carry the momentum to the local elections.
However, relevant laws for local elections do not permit an official alliance, contrary to previous parliamentary elections. Therefore, the two parties will look for strategies of "alliance on the candidate" rather than alliance on ballots.
Numan Kurtulmuş, AK Party deputy vice chair and Edip Semih Yalçın, the vice chair of MHP, had a meeting last week to discuss the alliance.
"We will continue to get together and hold meetings to discuss these matters and work on technical details," Kurtulmuş said after the meeting, referring to efforts to overcome the lack of a legal base for forming alliances in municipal elections.
He added that due to the absence of this legal base, "it was a more difficult task."
For the MHP's part, Yalçın said, "I believe that we have reached some positive results in today's meeting, and it is our desire as the MHP to continue the meetings as held today."
CHP: NO CANDIDATES ANNOUNCED YETMeanwhile yesterday, the Republican People's Party (CHP) Vice Chairman Seyit Torun, who is responsible for the party's local administrations, denied media reports suggesting that the party has already determined candidates for the local elections.
"The process for determining candidates is still ongoing. People should not doubt the accuracy of chosen candidates at the end of this process," Torun said.
The CHP administration has also decided to postpone its announcement of their candidates until Oct. 19. Before the postponement, a list of approximately 100 candidates was expected to be announced tomorrow by the party Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in a bid to extend the period for the election campaign and increase motivation within the party
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