Turkish Opposition Candidate Quits Presidential Race at Last Minute

Muharrem Ince, leader of the Homeland Party and former presidential candidate for Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party, CHP. Photo: EPA-EFE/SEDAT SUNA

"I will leave them no excuses. Otherwise, they will put the blame on us [if incumbent President Erdogan's wins]," Ince told a press conference in Ankara in front of his party headquarters.

Ince said claims about his finances and a leaked sex tape on social media were fabricated.

"I'm not afraid of these plots, montages and fake receipts. I've been resisting for 45 days. I'm withdrawing my candidacy. I'm doing this for my homeland," he said, while adding that he was still asking for votes for his party in the parliamentary race.

Ince, however, did not say that he supported Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the joint presidential candidate of the Nation Alliance and leader of main opposition Republican People's Party, CHP, against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sunday's vote.

Kilicdaroglu said after Ince's press conference: "We are waiting for him at our table. Lets leave old feuds and resentments aside."

Muharrem was a senior member of the CHP and stood as its presidential candidate in the 2018 presidential elections. He lost the election but his campaign skills gave momentum to the CHP that has since formed a broad alliance to unseat Erdogan.

He later left the CHP and formed his own party in 2021.

In the polls, Ince made a good start, with more than 10 per cent of the vote. But in the last week his support melted away to some 2 or 3 per cent of the vote, and pressure grew from the opposition parties, civil society groups and ordinary people, asking him not to divide the opposition vote.

The votes cast already for Ince in the diaspora will still be valid and...