CHP and İYİ Party to Cooperate in 49 Provinces in Local Elections

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Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and the delegation accompanying him visited İYİ Party Chair Meral Akşener at İYİ Party central office today (January 25).

While the meeting of the two parties focused on the local elections which will be held on March 31, 2019, it has been reported that the list of mayor candidates has also been finalized after the meeting.

According to the agreement reached by the two sides, the CHP and İYİ Party have come to a mutual understanding in 22 metropolitan municipalities and 27 provinces. While CHP candidates will enter the elections in 16 of 27 provinces, in the remaining 11 provinces, candidates nominated by İYİ party will participate in the elections in the name of both parties.

CHP and İYİ Party will cooperate in eight districts in Ankara. As for the remaining 17 districts, the two parties will enter the elections with their own candidates. It has also been reported that while the candidate of İYİ Party will enter the elections in Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality, the candidate of CHP will represent the two sides in Üsküdar, İstanbul.

Kılıçdaroğlu and Akşener held a joint press conference after the meeting.

Kılıçdaroğlu: Four friends brought us a ready-made list

Stating that they are not in favor of a conflict, CHP Chair Kılıçdaroğlu said that four people played a role in formation of the cooperation:

"Our two friends from İYİ Party and two friends from CHP... They brought us a ready-made list. I would like to extend my thanks to these four friends before you. I am glad that we present this understanding of democracy and culture of reconciliation to Turkey within a large context."

Akşener: It was a long process

Taking the floor after Kılıçdaroğlu, Akşener said,

"I would also like to thank our four friends from the CHP and İYİ Party. From time to time, they came to the threshold of suicide. It was a long process.

"We are going to the local elections, but I am and we are all seeing that it is as if we were going to war. But we are going to the local elections. What will we do in local elections? We will elect neighborhood and village heads, general municipal councils, district mayors, provincial mayors and metropolitan mayors." (HA/SD)