Interim Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is expected to start coalition talks with the People's Republican Party (CHP) when President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan tasks him to form a government. Sources at CHP headquarters have indicated that while the CHP administration is leaning toward a coalition with the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) as opposed to early elections, party organizations and the party base disfavor this position on the premise that it may cause a loss of votes in case of early elections.
Despite the Nationalist Movement Party's (MHP) stance, party organizations want the CHP to persist in forming a coalition with the MHP and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). Sources also added that an intra-party faction, including CHP Secretary General Gürsel Tekin, Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's advisor Erdoğan Toprak, and Vice Chairmen Murat Özçelik and Enis Berberoğlu, are in favor of a principle-based coalition with the AK Party.
If Davutoğlu fails to form a coalition, the possibility of early elections on Nov. 22 is another subject that concerns the CHP administration. According to party bylaws, 85 percent of deputy candidates have to be preselected, and when combined with early elections in a short time period, the CHP administration suggests that it may exhaust the party. Furthermore, there is also concern among the CHP administration that early elections could cause the party base to shift toward the HDP. Sources within the CHP have said that to minimize the damage of possible early elections, the party administration is seeking to become the coalition partner of the AK Party. In this manner, Akif Hamzaçebi, a former CHP group deputy chairman, has been tasked with holding negotiations with the AK Party.
Another issue for the CHP is the party congress expected to be held in the coming December, having been delayed from July 2014. If early elections are held in November and the CHP loses further votes, Kılıçdaroğlu may face a defeat on the eve of the party congress.
