The Republican People's Party (CHP) is keeping silent over a possible coalition with the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on the fourth day after the general elections. The chairman of the party, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, said shortly after the election results were clear that they would not form a government with the AK Party. CHP deputy Haluk Koç said there is no possibility that the CHP will be a part of a coalition government with the AK Party. The next day, Kılıçdaroğlu said his door was open to Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu without offering many details of whether the party is leaning toward a coalition with the AK Party. The same day, the deputy chairman of the party, Sezgin Tanrıkulu, said the party's prior pursuit of forming a coalition would be for one without the AK Party. "We could easily form a government that could usher in a page of restoration with other parties," Tanrıkulu said.
Davutoğlu will initially go to the CHP for negotiations over a partnership, a visit that is expected to be followed by visits to the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), during which the AK Party will convey its priorities.
An AK Party-CHP coalition may create an outcry from the CHP's electoral base, which has had a tough stance against the AK Party government and its policies since 2002. The party is more than ever sensitive to its voters' demands as it lost more votes to the HDP than was predicted before the elections.
