The Good Party (IP) is likely to lose four more lawmakers to the growing pro-alliance crowd in the Turkish opposition, as its leader Meral Akşener resists cooperation for next March’s high-stakes local elections.
The IP has been grappling with back-to-back scandals, including accusations of corruption and infighting, since the six-party opposition bloc, led by the Republican People's Party (CHP), lost to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s governing coalition in May’s presidential and parliamentary elections.
But the chaos worsened after Akşener pulled her party out of the alliance, blaming the CHP for poor showing in legislative polls, and officially rejected CHP’s offer to team up again for the upcoming mayoral vote.
Akşener and her close circle’s insistence on competing alone has been pushing deputies, including founding members, away in droves, who believe the IP has very little chance to haul in any significant constituencies by itself and instead endorse CHP’s Istanbul and Ankara Mayors Ekrem Imamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş.
The pair had won Türkiye’s two largest cities in 2019 polls with support from IP and the pro-PKK Green Left Party (YSP), informally known as the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (Dem Party), and previously going by the names of HEDEP and HDP.
With another Ankara lawmaker, Yüksel Arslan, announcing his resignation on Sunday, the party’s seats in Parliament fell to 38, down from the 44 it secured in May.
Akşener is facing the risk of losing four more, including Manisa Representative Şenol Sunat, as lawmakers known for their closeness to Yavaş, are rumored to be moving to resign later this week over the IP chair’s recent outburst at the Ankara mayor.
In a move that could quicken resignations going ahead, Akşener last week accused Yavaş, along with Imamoğlu, of "cowardice" for refusing her open call earlier this year to run for president instead of CHP’s former leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu against Erdoğan.
Yavaş responded that he "resented" her criticism, saying, "I have no fear of anyone. (Presidential candidacy) is not something that can be done with the encouragement of a party chair."
As for Imamoğlu, Akşener’s remarks were irrelevant as he claimed he had "shut the door on all of that" and was now "minding his own business."
Akşener previously walked out of the six-party bloc in a public tantrum over her notorious opposition to Kılıçdaroğlu’s candidacy, whom she argued lacked the appeal to stir public favor vital to win.
According to opposition media, IP members have been mobilizing and campaigning for Yavaş and Imamoğlu as part of a clandestine bargain with the CHP. Members formally quitting seem to be doing so in order to join the cause.
IP executives have warned the party could lose over 5,000 members in the coming period should the trend of dissent continue.
The two mayors, who were once opposition darlings, seemingly need all the help they can get as their party CHP struggles to reinstate reliability with its supporter base fed up with consecutive losses of the past two decades.
Imamoğlu himself is looking at a potential ban from politics in an ongoing lawsuit that convicted him of insulting public officials in the aftermath of the 2019 elections.
Erdoğan, in the meantime, has been indifferent to the fractious running through his opposition, declaring, "Whatever the CHP or Good Party or HEDEP is doing does not concern us, as their actions and words haven’t overlapped in a long while."
As for the mayoral candidate the AK Party eyes for Istanbul, Erdoğan refused to disclose any hints, assuring a name would be revealed once applications closed and necessary assessments have been concluded.
No dates have been announced yet, but the party will release its final candidate list in the second half of December.
The AK Party is also set to cooperate with People’s Alliance partner, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). The pair will endorse each other in 30 metropolitan cities and 29 provincial municipalities while fielding joint candidates in some cities run by the CHP.
Determined to win back all constituencies the AK Party lost in 2019, Erdoğan previously instructed his party to seek candidates with a good public image, "not candidates simply favored (by political lobbies)."
The official election schedule will start as of the new year and certified candidates will be announced by the Supreme Election Council (YSK) on March 3.