Lone wolves: Why İYİ Party is running against former allies

İYİ Party’s İstanbul and Ankara candidates Kavuncu (L) and Yıldırım (R). Source

İSTANBUL – By 5 pm today, all political parties will have submitted their candidate lists for the March 31 local elections. Unlike recent contests, most leading parties are fielding their own candidates, notably in pivotal races like İstanbul and Ankara.

With the opposition vote divided and the ruling alliance mostly intact, election arithmetic could favor the Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The situation has prompted accusations of double-dealing, particularly aimed at the nationalist İYİ Party and pro-Kurdish DEM Party, whose candidates are expected to draw votes from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).

Pushing back on such rhetoric, Bilal Bilici, an advisor to İYİ Chair Meral Akşener, told Turkey recap that İYİ leaders chose to field their own candidates to preserve the party’s identity and to consolidate the voter base that supports it.