The prolonged uncertainty in alliance talks between the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and other parties, including the far-right Good Party (İP), for the upcoming municipal elections has reportedly caused frustration among party members, particularly over candidacies in Ankara, Istanbul and İzmir.
The CHP party base and provincial organizations have reportedly directed criticism against party management, claiming that the party is "late in determining candidates." However, the organizations of the two parties wait for CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and İP Chairwoman Meral Akşener to determine candidates to be nominated for the three metropolitan municipalities. While the meetings carried out by party staff reached the final phase on cooperating in the upcoming local elections, the details of the cooperation were expected to have been shared with the public at the beginning of last week. A comprehensive report was prepared by CHP Deputy Chairman Bülent Tezcan following the end of the negotiations two weeks ago and submitted to Kılıçdaroğlu.
The report included thorough analyses for 51 provinces where the cooperation of the two parties is possible. It also underscored that as a part of the election strategy, one of the parties should not nominate their own candidates in election districts where the other one has already fielded its candidates. Yet, the CHP is expected to clarify all three metropolitan candidates by the end of December.
Meanwhile, the two parties have been signaling that they will continue the Nation Alliance formed with the conservative Felicity Party (SP) and center-right Democrat Party (DP) in the June 24 parliamentary elections to appeal to the other parties' voter bases in the elections.
