“New Welfare” is considered one of the conservative parties that intersects with “Justice and Development” with its electoral rules (social networking sites)

ANKARA

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The map of alliances in the Turkish local elections witnessed a remarkable change with the withdrawal of the New Welfare Party, led by Mehmet Ali Fatih Erbakan, from the People’s Alliance headed by the ruling Justice and Development Party, which heralds new features of political competition and indicates a new chapter of political competition and polarization.

In the last parliamentary elections, the New Welfare Party was able to obtain 1.5 million votes, representing 2.8% of the total number of voters’ votes, which qualified it to occupy 5 seats in the Grand National Assembly, after its late joining of the People’s Alliance and its support for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the elections. Presidential election, abandoning his intention to run in the parliamentary and presidential elections alone.

The "New Welfare" party is considered a religiously and socially conservative party, and it sees itself as the true heir to the principles of the "National Vision" established by Necmettin Erbakan, and among its declared goals is "establishing a new world and a just system under the leadership of Greater Turkey once again" in parallel with adopting the principle of "morals first." . The number of its members has increased from 260,000 to 474,000, and it aspires to surpass the National Movement and Al-Jadeed parties to become the third largest political party in the country during the coming period.

Despite its ideological affinity with the Justice and Development Party, the New Welfare has become known as an opposition force to the current government, especially since it includes in its ranks a significant number of dissidents from the ruling party. It has also refused to run in the upcoming local elections under the umbrella of the People’s Alliance, which may... It harms his candidates and is in the interest of opposition candidates.

Announcing the new Welfare War candidates for the upcoming elections (social networking sites)

Challenges

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, political analyst Ahmed Ibrahim Oglu highlighted the new challenges facing the “Justice and Development Party” as a result of the “New Welfare” presenting candidates in the municipal elections, as he believes that this step would increase the chances of the Republican People’s Party candidates winning in those municipalities. Because of the intersection in support bases between conservative parties.

Ibrahim Oglu points out that the new Welfare Party, with its new policy of reaching out to the angry and conservative ranks of the Justice and Development Party - in addition to nominating people who did not receive nominations from the latter in different cities and provinces - constitutes a direct challenge and worries the ruling party.

He notes that Erdogan criticized the “New Welfare” regarding this matter, during a ceremony organized by the “Justice and Development Party” in the city of Konya, when he said, “We have difficulty understanding those who believe that they are practicing politics by focusing on attracting the votes of the Justice and Development Party.”

Negotiations and discord

With the "Justice and Development" beginning its preparations for the local elections, the political arena witnessed the beginning of the negotiation phase with the "New Welfare" to persuade it to enter under the umbrella of the People's Alliance again.

Despite the five rounds of negotiations held between the two parties to reach joint understandings, these discussions did not result in any agreement, which prompted the “New Welfare” to move forward with its own plans, taking the decision to enter the local elections with its list of independent candidates.

In this regard, Fatih Erbakan said in statements, “We held talks with the Justice and Development Party regarding the possibility of cooperating in the upcoming elections, as we submitted a request to manage the municipalities of Arnavutköy and Sultanbeyli in Istanbul, but our request was rejected, so we will not run in the elections in order to help win or lose anyone.” Parties, but in order for the party to win its candidates.”

He added, "We confirm our position not to withdraw from the upcoming electoral race, as withdrawal simply means turning us into a secondary alternative to the Justice and Development Party, which we do not accept."

Fatih Erbakan stated that there is a consensus among opinion polling institutions on the rise in the popularity of the “new welfare” and said, “We expect that we will exceed the threshold of 20% of the total votes in the upcoming elections. The polls that previously classified us in the (others) category and did not give us even 1%, now indicate that we “We might get between 7% and 8% this election cycle.”

The "New Welfare" will run in the municipal elections scheduled to be held on March 31, presenting a list of 617 candidates for mayoral positions. This list includes candidates to take over in 30 urban municipalities and 51 regional municipalities, in addition to 456 provinces and 90 regions, which reflects the party's ambition to expand its influence at various local levels.

Ibrahim Oglu says that the conservatives constitute the popular base of the new Welfare Party, and not presenting candidates in the elections would have increased the votes of parties that have a popular base of conservatives, such as the “Justice and Development Party.” However, the aspirations of this party to run in the upcoming parliamentary elections independently encouraged it to run in the municipal elections alone. In order to gain the confidence of voters.

Fatih Erbakan expected his party to exceed the threshold of 20% of the total votes in the upcoming elections (social networking sites)

Internal crises

The New Welfare Party faced a series of crises that negatively affected its preparations for the upcoming elections. The most prominent of these crises was the wave of resignations that struck the ranks of its active members.

Media outlets also reported that about 50 of the party's main founders in Şanlıurfa, who were assuming important tasks, had given up their positions and moved to the Justice and Development Party, which exacerbated the challenges facing the party.

In the same context, the “New Welfare” candidate in the Fatih district of Istanbul caused widespread controversy and angry reactions after he published a video clip insulting refugees, pledging to deport them and “put them in boxes and send them to their countries.” This forced the party to delete the video and issue an apologetic statement, confirming that the content of the video did not It represents the party's official position towards refugees, and that it is committed to supporting the "oppressed" in various parts of the world.

Source: Al Jazeera