'Everybody is aware that HDP will be a key power in the next elections'
Photo: HDP
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The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) will be a "key power" in the next election, the party's co-chair Mithat Sancar has said.
"Not only us but everyone is aware that the HDP is a key political power. We consider the [next] elections as a possibility to make the peoples of the country win," Sancar said today (August 27) at an event organized by his party in Ankara.
"Yes, our goal of making the government lose continues. But it's not only making them lose, everybody should clearly target the win," he remarked.
According to recent polls, neither the ruling People's Alliance nor the opposition Nation's Alliance seem to be able to secure a majority, which makes the HDP voters' choice crucial.
The next elections are scheduled for June 2023 but the opposition has been pressing for snap elections.
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In the 2018 presidential and parliamentary elections, HDP did not join any alliance. The HDP got 11.70 percent of the votes in the parliamentary election and its presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtaş got 8.40 percent of the votes.
In the 2019 local elections, the HDP did not compete in major cities, including the capital Ankara and İstanbul, and supported the opposition. The opposition candidates took over both cities that had been governed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its predecessors for 25 years.
'Watching AKP losing votes is not enough'
"We say that making them lose is not enough. If we look at many commentators, the government is already losing, it's dissolving. It is true that the polls and the field indicate this," said Sancar.
"However, no government, let alone a government that has become such an authoritarian one and that has spread and deepened oppression, pillaging and rent seeking so much would not go just by being spectated.
"So, the government losing votes doesn't mean that we will make it lose by just watching it. To make the government lose, we, as the opposition powers, should offer the people a strong horizon, a promise of a solid future."
Sancar further said that the resolution of the Kurdish question will continue to be the HDP's "existential goal."
"The democratic solution to the Kurdish issue is also integrated with the solution to the problems of democracy, poverty, ecology, women and youth of this country," he remarked. (DŞ/VK)