In an interview, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Vice President Gürsel Tekin asserted that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) agreed to reduce the election threshold to 7 percent. Tekin stated that the CHP would support the reduction in the election threshold and said, "The HDP would run in the election alone, and an agreement was made to decrease the 10 percent threshold to 7 percent." Tekin further noted that decreasing the threshold would give parties the opportunity to represent themselves in Parliament. When asked about allegations that the CHP and HDP would create an alliance in the upcoming 2015 national elections, Tekin once again denied these claims and said, "We [CHP] have no intention of forming an alliance with any party." In September, political circles in Ankara were awash with claims that the CHP and HDP had already started talks to form an electoral alliance for the upcoming elections. Indicating that speculations made by referring to unfounded news related to "two parties that are to make an alliance," Tekin said that conspiracy theories were constructed with misleading information in those days. "As the CHP's vice president, I'm clearly saying what has been alleged is perception management. Reports and news on this so-called alliance are in no way connected to reality," he said.Despite Tekin's denial of the allegation, sources within the CHP believe that forming an electoral alliance between the CHP and the HDP may not be as far-fetched as it appears. Furthermore, the CHP's previous efforts to form an alliance could support the claims. Touching on the reconciliation process between Ankara and the Kurds to end the decades-long PKK conflict, Tekin said that the reconciliation process is not as transparent as it should be and said, "The entire nation should be informed about how the process is going." Regarding the CHP's stance toward the Kurdish issue, the CHP vice president claimed that the only political will to end conflicts in Turkey is that of the CHP and added, "The Kurdish question can only end with democracy and freedom." The reconciliation process was initiated by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government and began when a cease-fire was signed between the government and the PKK in 2013, followed by a series of democratic reforms to improve the rights of Turkey's Kurdish population. It is reported that over 50 percent of people in the country are in favor of the initiative.