A spokesperson for the Good Party (IP) announced that they do not have any information on whether the six-party opposition alliance would nominate their candidate on Feb. 13 for the upcoming elections. Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said in an interview on Sunday that the date would be the day the bloc would announce their candidate or at least, decide on one.

At a news conference on Monday in the capital Ankara, Kürşad Zorlu said that although the bloc decided on a meeting on Feb. 13, his party was unaware of any announcement concerning a candidate. Zorlu said the chairs of the six parties would hold talks separately before the bloc’s upcoming meeting, but each party would consult with their executive boards once names came up for candidacy.

Rumors are circulating about the opposition bloc’s candidate as the nomination process drags on with just a few months to go before the elections. Though parties appear to agree on a number of issues, namely the removal of the current executive presidency system once their candidate wins the election, reports suggest two main parties, IP and CHP disagree on the candidate. The IP reportedly favors Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu and Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş as candidates, while Kılıçdaroğlu mulls nominating himself, according to unconfirmed reports.

Another crack in the alliance emerged after parties revealed their election program on Monday. The program includes a pledge “to return” to all international treaties Türkiye withdrew from. Ümit Özlale, an IP official who was among those reading the program at an event in the capital Ankara, signaled that Türkiye would again be a party to the Istanbul Convention it pulled out from in 2021.

Felicity Party (SP) Deputy Chair Bülent Kaya reacted to Özlale’s announcement and said it did not reflect a “joint decision” of the alliance. Kaya said Özlale’s remarks were not included in the final text of the program agreed upon by the bloc.

Türkiye’s withdrawal from the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention prompted reactions from some women’s rights groups and Western countries. The landmark convention was signed in Istanbul in 2011.

Opponents of the pact in Türkiye say the convention undermines family unity and encourages divorce and that its references to equality were being used by the LGBT community to gain broader acceptance in society.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan underlined the withdrawal would not be a step backward for women and in 2022, Parliament ratified a bill aimed at combating violence against women that included introducing tougher sentences if the victim of a violent crime is a woman and making persistent stalking punishable with prison term.