After a frantic political debate that lasted for 3 days, the Turkish opposition settled on choosing the head of the Republican People's Party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, to run in the presidential elections scheduled for May 14, against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

And it seemed that the main opposition coalition managed to reach an agreement at the last minute the day before yesterday, Monday, so that the six parties that make up the coalition ended up choosing Kilicdaroglu, with the leaders of the coalition parties as his deputies if he succeeded in the difficult task of winning the elections, with an essential role for the two mayors. Istanbul and Ankara.

According to a Reuters report, the most prominent opposition figures in Turkish politics are as follows:

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the Republican People's Party

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, 74, has been leading the Republican People's Party (CHP), which is the main opposition in Turkey, a secular, center-left party since 2010. Under his leadership, the party failed to narrow the gap with Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party in the parliamentary elections.

With the party gaining an approval rating of between 22 and 26 percent in the general election, critics have questioned its ability to make the CHP the leading party at the national level.

Kilicdaroglu was a government employee who ran the Social Security Corporation before entering politics, a favorite target of Erdogan's criticism in his speeches, and he became famous in 2017 when he led an opposition march from Ankara to Istanbul to protest the imprisonment of one of his party's representatives in parliament.

Kılıçdaroğlu led the formation of an alliance with the Jaid Party, a centrist nationalist party, which helped them win municipal elections in Istanbul and Ankara in 2019, expanded the so-called Nation Alliance in 2022, and worked together to field a joint presidential candidate.

Despite some opposition from the public - especially supporters of the good party - Kilicdaroglu presented himself as a presidential candidate after agreeing to the candidacy of the mayors of Istanbul and Ankara for the post of vice presidents.

Meral Aksener, leader of the Good Party

Former Interior Minister Meral Aksener, 66, has emerged in the past few years as a potential rival to Erdogan, and was expelled from the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party in 2016 after her attempt to topple its prominent leader, Devlet Bahceli, failed.

In 2017, she formed the Good Party (moderate nationalist), which entered into an alliance with the Republican People's Party in the 2018 elections, and has 36 deputies in the 600-seat parliament.

Aksener was accepted by some right-wing and nationalist voters, some of whom were disappointed in the Nationalist Movement Party because of its alliance with the Justice and Development Party, and pressed for a return to the parliamentary system, which was replaced in 2018 by a presidential system under Erdogan.

After initially opposing Kılıçdaroğlu's candidacy, Akşener returned to the opposition coalition after convincing him that the mayors of Istanbul and Ankara would occupy the position of vice president if the opposition won the presidential elections next May.

Kilicdaroglu (center), Mansour Yavas (left) and Ekrem Imamoglu (Reuters)

Ekrem Imamoglu, Mayor of Istanbul

After assuming the presidency of a district in Istanbul on behalf of the Republican People's Party for 5 years, former businessman Ekrem Imamoglu (52 years old) emerged in March 2019 when he defeated the candidate of the Justice and Development Party in the Istanbul municipal elections.

Imamoglu's position as a new major player in Turkish politics was strengthened after the authorities canceled those elections, and he won the run-off more convincingly, which seemed a blow to Erdogan and his dominance in Turkish politics.

Backed by an opposition alliance, Imamoglu has succeeded in wooing more conservative voters outside the CHP's secular grassroots, and has clashed with Erdogan at times over issues such as the handling of the coronavirus pandemic and plans to build a canal through western Istanbul.

Imamoglu is seen as a potential rival to Erdogan at the national level, but he is now focused on running Turkey's largest city for a period set to last until 2024. He was sentenced to more than two years in prison in 2022 for insulting government officials, and will face a political ban if he is convicted. Judgment endorsement.

Mansur Yavas, Mayor of Ankara

Nationalist lawyer and politician Mansur Yavash (67 years old) emerged when he won the Ankara municipal elections in March 2019, noting that he ran as a candidate for the Republican People's Party supported by an opposition coalition against the candidate of the Justice and Development Party.

Yavash previously held the presidency of a district in Ankara for 10 years for the Nationalist Movement Movement Party until 2009, then left the Nationalist Movement Party in 2013 and joined the Republican People's Party in the same year, before losing narrowly in the Ankara municipal elections in 2014.

Opinion polls indicate that there is strong support for Yavas as a potential rival to Erdogan at the national level, after his performance as mayor of Ankara during the Corona pandemic won approval, however, opinion polls indicate that he will have difficulty mobilizing support among Kurdish voters.

Selahattin Demirtas, former head of the Peoples' Democratic Party

Former leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party Selahattin Demirtas, 49, remains a major political figure in Turkish politics despite being in prison since 2016.

Demirtas, previously sentenced to three years in prison for insulting the president, now faces a possible life sentence in a trial involving more than 100 other HDP politicians, accused of inciting the 2014 protests in which dozens were killed.

Demirtas ran for the presidency twice, the first in 2014 and the other behind bars in 2018, when he came in third place after receiving 8.40% of the vote.

Before this year's elections, Demirtas' Twitter account sends daily political messages to more than two million followers.

Last February, Demirtas publicly called on Kilicdaroglu to lead the opposition in Turkey before the elections, and the Peoples' Democratic Party had previously indicated that it might put forward a candidate for the elections.

Opinion polls indicate that without the support of the Peoples' Democratic Party, the opposition Nation Alliance is unlikely to win the presidential elections in the first round or achieve a majority in parliament.

Ali Babacan, leader of the Democracy and Progress Party

Ali Babacan, 55, a former deputy prime minister and former close ally of Erdogan, resigned from the Justice and Development Party in 2019 due to disagreements over his direction.

Babacan formed the Democracy and Progress Party, called for reforms to strengthen the rule of law and democracy, and previously served as economy and foreign minister.

According to Reuters, Babacan won the appreciation of foreign investors when he was in charge of the economy file.

Ahmet Davutoğlu, leader of the Future Party

Ahmet Davutoglu, 64, former prime minister and foreign minister, separated from the Justice and Development Party in 2019 and established the Future Party.

In the first decade of the Justice and Development Party's rule, Davutoglu pursued a foreign policy that tended to avoid confrontations and raised the slogan "No problems with neighbors", and since then he has criticized what he describes as a tendency towards authoritarianism under the executive presidency system.