Turkiye: Davutoglu hints at candidacy in 2023 presidential election

The head of Turkiye’s opposition Future Party and former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu hinted on Saturday that he may be nominated by a coalition of opposition parties to run in next year’s presidential election. Davutoglu said that his party will discuss the choice of a single presidential candidate from the alliance of opposition parties dubbed the “Table of Six”.

“We [the leaders of the six opposition parties] became contenders when we created our parties,” Davutoglu was quoted as saying by Yenicag newspaper. “We all are contenders.”

The opposition coalition includes the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA), the Democrat Party (DP), the Future Party (FP), the IYI (Good) Party and the Felicity Party (SP).

Earlier, the leader of the DEVA, Ali Babacan, announced his intention to run in the next presidential election if the opposition coalition does not agree on a single candidate.

Incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced last week that he intends to stand as a candidate for another term in office.

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