ANKARA: Turkiye’s six-party opposition alliance said it would announce its joint candidate next week to

challenge President Tayyip Erdogan in the presidential election, with a little more than two months to go
before the vote in May.

The alliance said it would announce its candidate on Monday, although there are signs of discord about
the choice and other issues in the nationalist IYI Party, the second largest party in the alliance. It said it
would hold talks on Friday.

The opposition has failed in previous national votes to pose a serious challenge to Erdogan, who has
been in power for two decades but who has seen his popularity wane amid a cost-of-living crisis even
before last month’s earthquakes that killed 45,000 people in Turkiye.

Erdogan indicated on Wednesday that presidential and parliamentary elections would be held on May
14, sticking to a previous plan for the vote and undeterred by the earthquakes that were followed by
criticism of his government’s response.

The leaders of the six opposition parties met on Thursday with the expectation that they would agree on
a joint candidate, who was widely expected to be Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition
Republican People’s Party (CHP).

“We have reached a common understanding concerning our joint presidential candidate for the 13th
presidential election and the roadmap for the transition process,” the alliance said.

The statement, signed by all six party leaders, said they would brief their parties’ executive boards
before meeting again on Monday “to share the final statement with the public.”

Media reports said party leaders largely voiced support for Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of Republican
People’s Party (CHP), although they said there was still opposition to his candidacy within the IYI Party of
Meral Aksener.