Turkey's Main Opposition Candidate Demands More Media Coverage

Date: 06 May 2018 - 21:32

News ID: ۵۲۶۲۹

ANKARA (Dispatches) – The presidential candidate for Turkey’s main opposition has hit out at a lack of mainstream media coverage for opposition parties and candidates before elections in June.
Muharrem Ince, the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) candidate to challenge President Tayyip Erdogan in the June 24 snap elections, said a "media embargo” had been placed on opposition parties upon Erdogan’s request.
"Television channels, which even broadcast the AK Party’s provincial congresses live, did not show our rally in Yalova live. We will go on by fighting with this media structure,” Ince said on Twitter on Sunday.
"If the media embargo ordered by the Palace continues, we will hold our rallies in front of TV stations,” he said, referring to the 1,000 room presidential palace built by Erdogan in Ankara.
Four Turkish opposition parties have announced the forming of a coalition in an attempt to challenge Erdogan party in the upcoming national election.
The main opposition Republican People’s Party's (CHP) Bulent Tezcan made the announcement of the formation of the "nation alliance” on Saturday.
Tezcan party is teaming-up with the nationalist Good Party, the Felicity Party and the Democrat Party in an attempt to weaken the Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP).
All four parties have put forward their own candidates for the presidential elections to run against Erdogan, but will run as an alliance for the parliamentary election, which is to be held on the same day as the presidential elections.
Tezcan added that the parliamentary candidates from the Democrat Party would run under the Good Party. The small party also announced that it would back the Good Party leader and presidential candidate Meral Aksener.

Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu (L) listens as Muharrem Ince addresses a party meeting on May 4, 2018 in Ankara during which Ince was named as CHP candidate to run in the June 24 presidential elections.