Turkey Elections: Parties begin strategic moves ahead of June elections

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Europe

03:19

Turkey is holding presidential and parliamentary elections in two months. The key vote will mark a transition period. Parties are making strategic moves to form stronger alliances in the hopes of defeating President Tayyip Erdogan. CGTN's Michal Bardavid reports.

June 24th of this year will certainly be a historic election day in Turkish politics.

MICHAL BARDAVID ISTANBUL "The parliamentary and presidential elections will officially mark Turkey's transition to a presidential system. The Prime Minister's post will be eliminated and the newly elected president will have new executive powers."

Already parties are making strategic collaborations. On Sunday a surprising move was made by Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party CHP when 15 of their members switched to the newly formed "Good" Party. This move made the Good Party -which is a breakaway party from the nationalist MHP- eligible for elections.

KEMAL KILICDAROGLU REPUBLICAN PEOPLE'S PARTY CHP LEADER "We have defended democracy in this country, the presence of democracy with all its rules in every institution. We are still defending it, and always will. We want to live together in peace."

One critical decision is yet to be made by the CHP – who their presidential candidate will be. It is expected to be announced by this weekend.

The leader of the Good Party – Meral Aksener is a strong figure, possibly one of the main contenders against Erdogan. Some analysts stress that Erdogan might need to take a different tone if he finds himself campaigning against Aksener due to Turkish cultural values.

GARETH JENKINS POLITICAL ANALYST "There's certain language that Erdogan could use about a male politician and it wouldn't harm him, but it would harm him if he used against Meral Aksener."

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan earlier stated that the country needed early elections to reduce political uncertainties and to better cope with regional crises.

In January Turkey launched a military operation in Syria's Afrin to clear border areas of the Kurdish group YPG. Erdogan claimed victory over the operation, that he said was crucial for Turkey's security. But some analysts point out that Erdogan is using Turkey's recent success in Afrin as an advantage.

GARETH JENKINS POLITICAL ANALYST "We've seen Erdogan's rhetoric – he's been saying Afrin was just the beginning, after Afrin we're going to go to Manbij, this is impossible. Russia won't allow it to happen. So it's also very important to the MHP ultranationalists and Erdogan – they go the polls before it becomes clear to the Turkish people that Afrin was easy, the rest is impossible."

The state of the Turkish economy could also play a key factor during elections as the Turkish Lira has hit record lows against the U.S. dollar last month and this is certainly affecting the public.

The elections will take place during an ongoing state of emergency first declared following the coup attempt in 2016. On Monday, Kilicdaroglu described this as a "civil coup" increasing the tension among party leaders making it clear the race will be a rough one. Michal Bardavid, CGTN, Istanbul.