IYI's Aksener Asks Ankara, Istanbul Mayors To Stand As VPs In Election

A spokesman for the opposition conservative Good Party (IYI) has stated that party leader Meral Aksener has asked the popular mayors of Ankara and Istanbul to stand for vice presidential positions in the upcoming presidential election. This comes after Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas met with Aksener to ask for her party to rejoin the opposition alliance seeking to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the upcoming presidential election.

• Yavas and the Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu both hail from the centre-left Republican People's Party (CHP), and were seen as potential candidates for the presidency. However, the opposition alliance of parties looks set to announce party head Kemal Kilicdaroglu as the joint candidate later today. This is in spite of polls showing Kilicdaroglu with the weakest prospects of defeating Erdogan. The insistence of selecting Kilicdaroglu sparked IYI's withdrawal from the alliance.
• Having Yavas and Imamoglu on the opposition Nation Alliance ticket could prove a useful vote winner, but it is unclear whether the two men would choose to stand for the VP offices, and if Kilicdaroglu would accept this compromise.
• The long-running divisions within the opposition and the likely selection of an unpopular candidate has translated into a scenario in which even though the economic outlook for households is difficult, with inflation as multi-year highs, Erdogan sits as the favourite to win re-election.