Türkiye’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) chairperson Devlet Bahçeli on Sunday challenged the main opposition Republican People's Party’s (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu to “make up his mind” about his potential bid in the 2023 presidential election.
“If you’re an honest man, announce your decision, Kılıçdaroğlu,” Bahçeli called out to his opposition rival at an MHP rally in the Elazığ province. “Are you running for president or not? Do you have the courage to take up the gauntlet?” he exclaimed.
Bahçeli’s taunt comes amid a monthslong wait on the opposition side, which has formed a coalition with five other opposition parties in a platform commonly called the ‘table of six’, to announce a presidential opponent to the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) chairperson and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as the 2023 election looms.
Bahçeli and Erdoğan, also partners in the People’s Alliance, both repeatedly criticized the CHP chairperson for failing to express a clear stance and produce a final presidential candidate in consensus with his allies. Erdoğan, too, last month outrightly challenged Kılıçdaroğlu to run against him in the upcoming election, saying: “If you are confident in yourself, if you are so sure of the correctness of your political style, if you want to take responsibility for the future of your country and nation... confront me in the election."
The next presidential and parliamentary elections in Türkiye are expected to be held in June 2023. Erdoğan serves as the People’s Alliance's candidate for the top office.
“Very little has left until the 2023 election. Our candidate is set and our decision is clear,” Bahçeli also reiterated at Sunday’s rally.
“Our goal as the People’s Alliance is to reach a qualified majority in the parliament in order to grant the Turkish people a brand-new constitution,” Bahçeli said, which he explained would only happen “if President Erdoğan is re-elected by a landslide”.
The opposition, meanwhile, promises a return to a “Strengthened Parliamentary System” if elected. This proposed system would limit the president to a single seven-year term, require the president to sever their ties to political parties and prohibit them from joining a political after their term.
It has been nearly five years since Türkiye switched from a parliamentary system to the current presidential system after the majority of Turkish voters opted to create the new system. Turkish voters narrowly endorsed an executive presidency on April 16, 2017, with a referendum of 51.4% votes in favor. The official transition to the new system took place when Erdoğan was sworn in as the president in Parliament after the 2018 general elections, which he won by a majority of 52.6% votes.
