ISTANBUL
Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, will start its election campaign for June polls on Saturday in Istanbul, Gursel Tekin, the party’s senior official, said.
Speaking at the party’s Istanbul headquarters Thursday, Tekin said the first meeting for June 7 elections will be in Istanbul.
“I believe Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the chairman of the party, will unveil campaign pledges,” Tekin, the secretary general of the party, added.
Turkey’s political parties submitted their candidate lists to the Supreme Election Board Tuesday evening.
Each political party in Turkey can submit 550 candidates, the number of seats in the country's parliament. The main opposition party already knew 362 of its candidates through primary elections held in 45 provinces.
CHP chairman Kilicdaroglu also ran in a primary election in Izmir, in western Turkey. He received 85 percent of the vote.
The rest of candidates was determined by the party's governing body, leaving some prominent deputies like Umut Oran, MP from Istanbul, and Hursit Gunes, from Kocaeli, on the sidelines. Gunes vehemently criticized the party for his exclusion.
Tekin said it had been difficult to designate candidates, saying that Kilicdaroglu had gone through some difficult moments to select nominees.
“The remaining slots were very limited. What is important is the party itself,” he said.
The Supreme Election Board will announce the list of MP candidates on April 24. The election campaign will end on June 6.
