The chairperson of the Free Cause Party (HÜDA-PAR) announced support for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the upcoming elections but maintained that their policies would be unchanged.
The AK Party, which leads the alliance that includes Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and Great Unity Party (BBP), has been holding talks with HÜDA-PAR and the New Welfare Party (Yeniden Refah Partisi) for support ahead of the May 14 elections. Parties affirmed progress in talks but their decision has not been finalized yet.
During an interview on Sunday, Yapıcıoğlu said that they would support incumbent President Erdoğan in the upcoming polls and agreed “in principle” to be together with the People’s Alliance in the parliamentary elections, but added that discussions on how to shape the alliance in terms of parliamentary vote are underway. “Certainly, we want a strong representation in the parliament,” Yapıcıoğlu asserted.
HÜDA-Par mainly draws support from voters of Kurdish background in Türkiye’s southeastern and eastern regions. Their discussions with AK Party has sparked outrage among the opposition bloc which claimed that the People’s Alliance was courting Kurdish votes while the bloc itself seeks to garner support from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) – a party affiliated with the terrorist group PKK. The HDP also draws support from voters with Kurdish backgrounds.
Yapıcıoğlu said their party’s policy on several issues was unchanged and no party needs to change stance when they join an alliance while hinting at BBP and MHP.
“Parties do not need to have perfect harmony with each other while joining an alliance. HÜDA-PAR certainly will not join AK Party or other parties when it supported the alliance. We will preserve our own identity within the alliance,” he clarified.
He said they also supported Erdoğan in the 2018 elections but their support did not “stir up reaction” as it has been now from the opposition. He tied it to the “increasing vote” of HÜDA-PAR. “The opposition knows that HÜDA-PAR (can change the vote distribution in favor of People’s Alliance),” he said.
The elections are expected to be a tight race between the People’s Alliance and the opposition bloc. The presidential candidacy process is underway as per the election calendar, and candidates are required to apply to the country’s election board by a deadline fixed on Monday .
Parties will have a Mar. 23 deadline for the final application for their candidates, and andidates will require 100,000 signatures from their supporters.
Meanwhile, Muharrem Ince, who challenged President Erdoğan in the 2018 elections on behalf of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) announced on Sunday that he would apply for candidacy on Monday.
Now helming the Homeland Party, Ince said he wanted to provide voters with “a new option.” “We will launch a revolution in Türkiye as Emmanuel Macron did in France by tearing apart two traditional political blocs in France,” Ince said during a speech in the capital Ankara on Sunday.
