Five Turkish opposition parties are today expected to formally announce today their joint candidate for Turkiye’s June presidential election. The press release comes at a moment of fracture among the opposition parties, with Meral Aksener’s right-of-center Good Party announcing that it would leave the grouping. Photo: Reuters

Five Turkish opposition parties are today expected to formally announce their joint candidate for Turkiye’s June presidential election.

Following a Thursday meeting of Nation Alliance, the now five-party coalition announced that it had agreed upon a candidate to challenge the 20-year rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The press release comes at a moment of fracture among the opposition parties, with Meral Aksener’s right-of-center Good Party announcing that it would leave the grouping due to its decision not to select either of Good Party’s proposed candidates: the mayors of Istanbul and Ankara, Ekrem Imamoglu and Mansur Yavas, respectively.

With Aksener’s withdrawal, expect the block to formally announce main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu as the joint candidate. The settlement on a candidate after lengthy disagreement on the best choice is likely to rebuild opposition unity and increase its chances of success on election day.

The election will also have lasting short and medium-term consequences if Erdogan is defeated, including a possible new diplomatic posture for the country in its foreign affairs. Under Erdogan, Turkiye has attempted to maintain an ambiguous middle ground between Russia and the West on the issue of Ukraine. A new government in Ankara could see the country abandon this position and move in the direction of fully supporting one side over the other.