People’s Alliance infighting spills outside 'Table of Six'

Considering the last year, the two alliances are seen to be strikingly different in the approach they take when determining policy.

The ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) last one-year efforts bring to mind the idea that they have a set of policies prepared primarily to win the election.

The Nation's Alliance’s policy set, on the other hand, gives the impression that they are counting their chickens before they hatch. They seem to be concentrated on their strategies aimed at sharing the ruling power as they will easily win the election. Someone says something different every day, which is the primary cause of all the problems. As we all know, elections in a country like Türkiye is always difficult, and the competition is fiercer than in most countries around the world. Opposition parties’ role is clear: Criticize the ruling party and win the next election. However, there are certain necessary elements in order to achieve this.

The Republican People’s Party (CHP) is the main opposition in Türkiye for the last seven decades. Though it has not been in power, it was powerful until recent years through indirect means, by the hand of certain public institutions and bureaucrats.

The CHP, losing strength as military tutelage regressed, had no choice but to join powers with five other parties for the 2023 election instead of facing it alone. Thus, this method brought it success in the last local elections, and they won Istanbul and the capital Ankara.

It is very clear even in opposition media’s reactions that the current course of events is not good. The Nation's Alliance is making a mistake. But where is it going wrong?

The main objective during an election process is to win the election. When the members of the Nation's Alliance established the opposition bloc, the Table of Six, they strongly believed in one thing: “This time President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will certainly go. He will fail, and we will replace him.”

They became sure they would win the election. They started to occupy themselves with who would run as candidate and how they would share the ruling power.

Following Gürsel Tekin’s statements, a major debate erupted between the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and the Good Party (İP). Though the HDP is not at the table, the opposition electorate are aware that election success is possible with the HDP’s votes only. The Nation's Alliance’s second debate started between the İP and the CHP, and this internal war is currently ongoing.

The Nation's Alliance prefers to postpone such and similar severe problems as a policy instead of facing and solving them. The leaders around the Table of Six are ignoring the reactions and expectations of even their own electorate. They claim they will solve Türkiye’s problems in this manner. Yet, actions speak louder than words.

Therefore, as the process carries on, the Table of Six started to create problems itself, and the postponed matters started to impede the table. The conflicts within the alliance exceeded the party chairs’ control and are now continuing at the vice chair level.

The day of the Table of Six’s last meeting, Cihan Paçacı had to resign after his statements that CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu should not run for president. İP members cannot accept Kılıçdaroğlu, and are continuing to make similar declarations more intensely.

The latest statements by İP youth in favor of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, and those who held up placards in front of the CHP became a problem. The CHP’s youth branch chair responded to them with a threatening message.

The conflict within the Table of Six continues to intensify. Beyond the differences of opinion, it seems it is now time for threats and blackmail.

Former Minister Yaşar Okuyan said if İP Chair Merak Akşener does not change her position towards Kılıçdaroğlu, he has documents that he will reveal.

We see such inappropriate behavior in the political realm time and again. However, it is abnormal that they are experiencing such internal conflict before even coming to power. Such strange behavior is not taken to kindly by the people.

As the six parties around the table continue to fight among themselves, they started to lose a significant number of votes. This development started to concern all parties – primarily the İP – but the CHP. They already started to ponder the votes they will receive in the elections, and the trauma they will experience at the end of the election.

The main cause of the conflict is that if the CHP runs for president, all discussions will evolve around the CHP, the İP will be forgotten, which will thus lead to a significant loss of votes.

The other four parties in the opposition bloc have no strength left to negotiate with the CHP. They will suffice with whatever they get.

The Nation's Alliance started to negotiate position and rank like they won a great victory – even before the election.

The wind reversed because they started to count their chickens before they hatched, which turned even their own media against them. They messed it all up.

Meanwhile, the People’s Alliance prepared a policy set to win the election, and is implementing it step by step. It knows that in order to run a country, one first needs to win the election.