Breakaway candidate Muharrem İnce, chairman of the Memleket Party and former Republican People’s Party (CHP) member, has announced his withdrawal from Turkey’s presidential race. İnce’s formal withdrawal announcement comes after speculation on Wednesday (May 10) that he would leave the race. Popular among Gen-Z voters and opposition voters disillusioned with main opposition candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, İnce’s entry into the presidential race had drawn criticism from some who felt his candidacy jeopardized opposition chances of winning in the first round. Turkish voters head to the polls on Sunday (May 14) to vote for president and members of parliament.
In his speech midday Wednesday (May 11) İnce said he was withdrawing “for the good of the country.” In the speech, the Memleket Party head chastised those who have levelled allegations and rumors against him since his campaign began, saying “Over the past 45 days they have been committing character assassination…It is outright slander.” İnce also sought to dispel rumors that his candidacy had been arranged by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) in hopes of drawing votes away from Kılıçdaroğlu: “Everyone said: ‘No, he won’t withdraw, he’s getting money from the palace [Erdoğan’s government]. I’m not afraid of these fake receipts.”
Muharrem İnce’s long-rumored candidacy became official on March 25, when the Memleket Party chairman reached the 100,000 required signature quota required of presidential candidates from smaller parties. His candidacy was followed a day later by that of Sinan Oğan, joint candidate of the Ata Alliance, a small coalition representing a group of far-right nationalist parties. The late entry of Oğan and İnce cemented a four-way presidential race along with incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and CHP chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. While not expected to command more than a few percent of the vote, the entries of İnce and Oğan were significant for increasing the likelihood that neither Erdoğan nor Kılıçdaroğlu win 50% of the vote, thereby forcing the contest into a second round run-off.
Given İnce’s potential to pull votes from Kılıçdaroğlu, a behind-the-scenes deal between the two men had been rumored since İnce’s entry into the race, in which İnce would agree to withdraw in exchange for promises such as ministry appointments in a hypothetical Kılıçdaroğlu presidential administration. Such a deal, however, never transpired. Kılıçdaroğlu visited the Memleket Party’s Ankara headquarters on March 29, in which he reportedly did not request such a withdrawal, instead talking with İnce about relief efforts for the devastating earthquakes that had hit southeastern Turkey on February 6.
On March 31, Turkey’s Supreme Election Council (YSK) finalized the election ballot, meaning that İnce’s place on May 14’s ballot was set regardless of whether he chose to withdraw later. Nevertheless, CHP efforts to engineer an İnce withdrawal continued after this point, with reporting from multiple CHP members indicating that behind-the-scenes negotiations between the two parties had proceeded apace.
İnce, a former longtime member of the CHP, was the party’s candidate in Turkey’s last presidential election in 2018. İnce would experience a landslide defeat against President Erdoğan, with the incumbent strongman receiving over 50% of the vote to İnce’s 30% and preventing the election from proceeding to a second-round run-off. After an unsuccessful attempt to take over leadership of the CHP from Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, İnce left the party in 2021, going on to form the Memleket Party several months later. A former physics teacher hailing from the Marmara Sea city of Yalova, İnce’s former membership in the CHP as well as center-left political leanings had been expected to pull votes primarily from Kılıçdaroğlu. Recent polls had shown İnce with diminishing support, a factor which may have also influenced his decision to leave the race. İnce has yet to announce an endorsement of another presidential candidate ahead of Sunday’s contest.
Written/translated for Medyascope by Leo Kendrick
