HEDEP says open to 'transparent' alliances for upcoming local elections

Turkey’s opposition HEDEP co-chair Tuncer Bakırhan has stated that they were open to form “transparent” alliances for the local elections to be held on March 31. “The Turkish public will be informed about who and what we talked about,” he noted regarding the alliance formation process.

Tuesday November 14 2023 09:00 pm

Duvar English

Turkey’s opposition Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (HEDEP) co-chair Tuncer Bakırhan on Nov. 14 said they were open to form alliances with other parties for the upcoming local elections.

Speaking at his party’s parliamentary group meeting, Bakırhan said “We will make these alliances openly and transparently. The Turkish public will be informed about who and what we talked about,” according to reporting from the Mesopotamia News Agency.

He noted that they will not be in an alliance if it “does not benefit our people, does not benefit the workers, and does not solve the problems of the working people,” and added that they will win municipalities in the western Turkey as well.

HEDEP’s mayoral candidates will be determined “with the widest participation of the public,” he expressed.

He also touched upon the constitutional draft preparations of the government and said “We will never, ever allow a constitutional regulation that is anti-democratic and restricts freedoms. We will stand against it with all our strength.”

In the 2019 local elections, the HDP and the İYİ (Good) Party did not field mayoral candidates for Istanbul and Ankara metropolitan municipalities.

Turkish main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) Mansur Yavaş and Ekrem İmamoğlu were the first opposition mayors who garnered enough votes in 2019 to gain mayorship in capital Ankara and Istanbul after a long time without any other major candidate from the opposition.

A successor of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the Green Left Party’s (YSP) name was recently changed to the HEDEP.