HDP: 'We will run with our own candidate for presidency'

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Pervin Buldan, the co-chairperson of the People's Democratic Party (HDP) announced on Saturday that HDP would run in the coming elections with their own candidate for the president.

Buldan addressed the Kars congress of HDP on Saturday and the Iğdır congress of the party on Sunday. She repeated in both that they would run with their own candidate in the presidential elections.

Asking "Why shouldn't HDP run with its own candidate?" Buldan said, "HDP will determine its candidate together with its alliances."

"Blocking decision was instructed by the Palace"

In Kars, she first talked about the recent decision of blocking the treasury funds to HDP, given by the Constitutional Court (AYM).

Buldan said, "The last decision by AYM was to block the bank account of HDP where the treasury funds to HDP are sent. Thus the account of the third largest political party of Türkiye, the party for which more than 6 million people voted for will be blocked."

"Of course, we know that this is not a legal decision. We know that this decision was taken with the instruction from the palace.

"AYM turned itself in a tool of the Palace by undersigning this unlawfulness. I am sorry to say this. They may block the treasury funds to us but there is no power to block the will of the people."

Buldan announced in Kars that they were going to run with their own candidate for the president and that they would be announcing the name of the candidate soon.

She said, "We do not have any partnership either with the People's Alliance or the Nation Alliance. We have our principles. We may sit down and talk over these when the time comes, we may negotiate and be in dialogue. However, the decision of HDP now is to run with its own candidate in the elections."

Buldan restated the same position in Iğdır on Sunday. She said, "Everyone has their eyes on us; they are trying to see if HDP is going to run with a candidate or not. If HDP is going to support the Nation Alliance or not. If the strategy of HDP will be the same as in the last local elections or if the party will have another strategy, another target?"

Buldan asked, "Why shouldn't HDP run with a candidate?" and added, "Those who deem the prisons and the graveyards proper for the Kurdish people are destined to fail in the elections."

Demirtaş: Responsibility now lies with the other block

Selahattin Demirtaş, the imprisoned ex-chairperson of HDP and the previous presidential candidate of the party in the 2014 elections said, "Of course, HDP is going to run with its own candidate if the other opposition block is not thinking about visiting HDP in order to determine a joint candidate or to agree upon the principles in relation to the candidate to run and to be in an open dialogue and negotiation. This is the normal and legitimate attitude."

Responding to the questions that Cumhuriyet daily addressed him, Demirtaş also said, "HDP has done everything for a common candidate and as Pervin Buldan expresses in her statements, they have not closed the doors totally. The responsibility now lies with the other opposition block."

2023 presidential elections

Türkiye will be holding both presidential and parliamentary elections in the first half of 2023.

Türkiye is governed by a presidential government system since the amendments made in the Constitution with the 2017 referendum. The outcome of the presidential elections is critical.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been unofficially announced as the candidate of the Peoples Alliance since long, while the Nation Alliance, formed by six opposition parties have not announced its candidate yet, but rather focused on a roadmap to the return to a parliamentary system if and when they win the elections.

Following last week's statements from both Erdoğan and his party that elections may be brought forward, the leaders of the six political parties of the Nation Alliance or the Table of Six held a meeting last Thursday (January 5).

Holding the 10th of their roundtable meetings, they said in a written statement issued after the nine-hour meeting, "We have decided to start consultations regarding the determination of the candidate."

"The Table of Six will on January 30 release the "Transition Period Roadmap and Common Policies Document," the statement also said.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu is widely expected to become the opposition's joint candidate.

Neither the ruling People's Alliance nor the opposition Nation Alliance has over 50% of the votes which is necessary to win the presidential elections in the first tour, according to the polls but both sides require the support of HDP.

HDP has formed the Labor and Freedom Alliance with five socialist parties. (RT/AEK/PE)