Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan affirmed that "the ruling Justice and Development Party and its nationalist ally are committed to continuing their path after the opposition alliance split over its presidential candidate for the upcoming general elections in May." Erdogan stated, as reported by TRT news channel: "We said months ago that this would happen; we have already set our goal. No matter what they do, we continue to work on our plan, on our roadmap."
The public split occurred on Friday following months of escalating discord within the opposition alliance, which analysts consider a blow to the opposition's hopes of ousting Erdogan. Last week, Erdogan announced that the elections would take place on May 14, despite criticisms directed at his government's response to the devastating earthquakes last month, which resulted in over 45,000 deaths in Turkey.
Meral Akşener, leader of the Good Party, which is the second-largest party in the opposition alliance and belongs to the center-right, announced on Friday that the party is withdrawing from the bloc. She explained that "during a meeting last week to select the presidential candidate, the other five parties in the alliance proposed to put forward Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of the Republican People’s Party, as their presidential candidate." Akşener accused alliance members of pressuring her party and challenging the will of the people, adding that she had suggested nominating the Mayor of Ankara Mansur Yavaş or the Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem İmamoğlu, both from the Republican People's Party, for the position.
