Main opposition leader and presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu changed his rhetoric and campaign strategy after he failed to win the May 14 presidential election in Turkey, thus necessitating a runoff on May 28. Kılıçdaroğlu, in a short video released yesterday, tried to woo supporters of nationalist Sinan Ogan, who received 5.28 percent of the vote on Sunday, denying President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a victory.
Ogan is the candidate of an alliance advocating the return of refugees back home to Syria either voluntarily or by force. A former member of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Ogan said he would announce who he will support in the runoff after negotiations with the competing parties.
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Kılıçdaroğlu, the candidate of the Nation Alliance, which was formed by six opposition parties that conducted a positive campaign until May 14, followed a strategy that focused on the economic difficulties in the country and promised to return to a parliamentary system of governance instead of the current executive presidency.
Read more: Nordic Monitor
