The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) will conduct a tendency survey in some provinces and districts to determine ideal candidates for local elections in March 2019. However, the survey will not include the largest province, Istanbul, despite the party's former presidential candidate requesting a tendency survey.
The Central Executive Board (MYK) of the party led by Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu convened on Wednesday to determine the provinces where the tendency survey will be carried out.
Party members in these provinces and districts will vote for presumptive nominees. The results of the elections on Dec. 2 will be evaluated at the next party caucus meeting.
While the CHP decided to conduct a tendency survey in Çanakkale and Sinop municipalities, provinces that the party already runs, it is also expected to ask the party organization in Bilecik province to determine the candidate, where a mayor from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) runs the municipality. The candidates have been selected by the party administration without holding a tendency survey among delegates to ask their opinions on who should be nominated.
Along with three provinces, the party also decided to conduct a tendency survey in 15 districts, including Gazipaşa in Antalya, Akhisar and Turgutlu in Manisa, Kuluncak and Hekimhan in Malatya, Gönen and Gömeç in Balıkesir, Yeşilova in Burdur, Nurhak in Kahramanmaraş, Boztepe in Kırşehir, Avanos in Nevşehir, Düziye in Osmaniye, Pazar in Rize and Divriği and Ulaş districts in Sivas.
Although the CHP had already announced around 200 candidates for the districts and towns it has not shared the names of candidates in metropolitan municipalities except Balıkesir province.
Last week, Balıkesir Deputy Ahmet Akın was presented as the CHP candidate in Balıkesir in the upcoming elections. The party also announced that it would continue with its incumbent mayors in Yalova, Burdur and Giresun provinces.
In Ankara, for Çankaya and Yenimahalle districts, respectively, incumbent mayors Alper Taşdelen and Fethi Yaşar will be re-nominated.
For Istanbul, the last presidential candidate of the CHP, Muharrem İnce, said on Thursday that he would run in the elections only if he is nominated through an intraparty tendency survey.
The statement came after a meeting between Kılıçdaroğlu and İnce on Thursday. However, it is unknown whether Kılıçdaroğlu gave a positive or negative response to this request.
As part of alliance efforts, Kılıçdaroğlu and conservative Felicity Party (SP) Chairman Temel Karamollaoğlu are expected to meet for the local election agenda on Monday.
The two parties along with the right-wing Good Party (İP) and the center-right Democrat Party (DP) formed the Nation Alliance ahead of the June 24 parliamentary and presidential elections.
The alliance received 33.9 percent of the votes, but was defeated by the AK Party and the Nationalist Movement Party's (MHP) People's Alliance, which received 53.7 percent of the votes.
Although the parties grappled with defeat, they also gave the green light to continue the Nation Alliance in the local elections to appeal to the other parties' voter bases.
Regarding the issue, last week, the delegations of the CHP and İP came together and agreed in principle to collaborate directly with the voter base instead of officially forming an alliance.