HDP decision not to field contender boosts efforts of an alliance seeking to unseat Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Turkey’s third-biggest political party has said it will not field its own candidate for president in May’s election,
a move that is likely to boost support for the main opposition candidate hoping to end incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s two decades in power. The Peoples’ Democratic party (HDP), whose base is overwhelmingly Kurdish, stopped short of explicitly backing Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the main opposition party who has the support of five other groups that have formed an alliance to unseat Erdoğan. But the HDP’s decision, announced on Wednesday, reduces the chances of a major split in the opposition vote as Kılıçdaroğlu seeks to consolidate support ahead of the May 14 presidential and parliamentary vote. The HDP has the support of an estimated 12 percent of the electorate, and analysts say its voters could swing the election outcome.
source: https://www.ft.com/content/681bbff7-f923-46de-99ed-15f1d462c92d