Kemal Kilicdaroglu might make a better president than he does a campaigner
Kemal kilicdaroglu, the leader of the social democratic Republican People’s Party (chp), Turkey’s main opposition party, is bracing for the biggest showdown of his career. “Erdogan will do everything not to leave,” he says at his party’s headquarters, referring to the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the outlook for next year’s elections. “He will pile on the pressure on the judiciary, he will try to silence the free media, and he will try to manipulate the election board,” says Mr Kilicdaroglu. “But at the ballot box, we will teach him a lesson.”
Mr Erdogan’s opponents are closing ranks. On February 28th six opposition parties, including the chp, signed a declaration outlining their plans to overhaul the presidential system, which gives Mr Erdogan unchecked powers, restore more power to parliament and shore up state institutions, starting with the courts and the central bank. The alliance has yet to announce its candidate for president. But there is every indication Mr Kilicdaroglu will run.
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