Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairperson and presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu reiterated his call on Muharrem Ince, chairperson of the Homeland Party (MP), on Thursday to join his six-party opposition coalition.
“My call still stands. Let’s put aside the old resentments. We welcome Mr. Ince to Türkiye’s table,” Kılıçdaroğlu wrote on Twitter after Ince announced hours earlier that he had withdrawn from the upcoming elections on Sunday.
The 59-year-old announced his decision after being targeted by an online smear campaign, which included doctored images of him meeting women and riding in fancy cars.
The move was unexpected as Ince, just a few days ago, insisted on continuing as a candidate and even called on the opposition to withdraw from the elections in his favor.
The secular nationalist picked up 30.6% of the vote when he challenged President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the 2018 presidential polls.
He then quit the main opposition party and launched his own movement that began to pull votes away from secular leader Kılıçdaroğlu – the joint candidate of the main opposition bloc.
“I’m withdrawing my candidacy,” Ince told reporters ahead of Sunday’s vote.
“I am doing this for my country.”
The opposition had been accusing him of splitting vote shares against Erdoğan by being a presidential candidate and not supporting Kılıçdaroğlu.
However, on Wednesday, he told Sözcü Newspaper he could join the coalition.
