A mental blackout in the İYİ Party! Is it a trap for Meral Akşener?

The İYİ Party General Administrative Board (GİK) has signed off on a decision that defies all formulas in political mathematics... They announced that they will head into the local elections with their own candidates, without forming an alliance with the CHP.

Why would a party leadership sign off on a decision that will be a disaster for both the country and their own party? Let me share the answer with you through a bombshell piece of inside information I reached after numerous conversations since yesterday...

Remember... Durmuş Yılmaz had resigned, saying, "All expectations regarding the goals we wanted to reach have been reset." From Aytun Çıray to Bahadır Erdem... As many important names in the İYİ Party resigned, the common point of their criticism was that the main goal of fighting the AKP had been abandoned...

Yet, the İYİ Party had set out to fill the great void in the center-right. Erdoğan, who cannot tolerate even a "blade of grass growing" in right-wing politics other than himself, has melted every candidate and party initiative in the AKP pan—from Mehmet Ağar to Erkan Mumcu, from Süleyman Soylu to Numan Kurtulmuş, and finally Sinan Oğan in the last election...

The İYİ Party was resisting Erdoğan's transfer-and-melt strategy... Despite the forced olive branch extended by the Palace's junior partner, the MHP, and Erdoğan's open invitations, Meral Akşener kept the İYİ Party on a solid opposition footing.

Akşener grew as she fought the Palace. With its secular, Kemalist structure, the İYİ Party was increasing its potential to win votes from CHP voters, and with its nationalist face, from MHP and right-wing voters. When the alliance in the 2019 local elections continued into the general elections, the voters grew fond of the CHP-İYİ Party duo...

THE LOSE-LOSE FORMULA

However, whatever happened, the İYİ Party made a decision to not cooperate with the CHP in the local elections, a turn that can be summarized as a lose-lose scenario where they are certain to lose! The İYİ Party, which had taken the decision "not to form an alliance with the CHP" at the previous GİK meeting, signed the same decision again at the second meeting held yesterday.

The voting at yesterday's GİK meeting was conducted by secret ballot... According to the information I obtained, this meant the following; Meral Akşener actually wanted the GİK to abandon its first decision by holding a secret ballot. The voting would be secret so that members could say "yes to the alliance" contrary to their initial decisions...

The method had an effect. The number of those wanting an alliance rose from 4 to 14, but it was not enough. The İYİ Party GİK signed off on the lose-lose decision. *

WHY DID THE İYİ PARTY GIVE UP ITS GAINS?

Why would a party leadership take such a decision knowing they will lose? In local elections without an alliance, the İYİ Party has no chance of winning a single municipality. Let alone a municipality, they cannot even elect a single council member. Yet, after the alliance made in 2019, the İYİ Party gained deputy mayoralties, council memberships, and company directorships in many municipalities, including metropolitan ones, in addition to 19 district and 6 town municipalities...

Moreover, many İYİ Party members found jobs in municipalities due to the alliance... If they enter the March 31 local elections independently, the İYİ Party will not be able to win a single municipality or elect a single council member.

Entering the election independently will only benefit the AKP and MHP. The İYİ Party's vote shares will also decline significantly. Why, why, why?

I am talking to İYİ Party figures. They are also bewildered by this decision of the headquarters... Let me share a bombshell piece of inside information with you.

Names very close to the leadership state that those who do not want an alliance in the İYİ Party are predominantly those who could not become members of parliament. The common view of the current MPs, however, is that there should definitely be cooperation in the elections...

However, the weight in the GİK is on the side of former MPs and those who applied for candidacy but were not selected.

In other words, these are names who also have grievances against Meral Akşener... The claim is this; although Meral Akşener wants an alliance, she cannot get the management staff to accept it. Those who do not want Akşener are actually undermining their leader under the guise of "let's enter the elections with our essence, let's be ourselves"...

Meral Akşener is a politician who has paid great prices... Why would she cross the ocean only to drown in a creek? Who are these people serving—those who act with the motive of teaching the CHP a lesson, who oppose the opposition, who act with the mentality of "let it be small but ours," and who, according to the claim I learned from within the İYİ Party, are even setting a trap for Meral Akşener? It is clear they are not serving the İYİ Party...

I believe that Meral Akşener will hold a re-vote against this mental blackout that will shrink the İYİ Party and grow the AKP, and create a ground for electoral cooperation... Otherwise, on the morning of March 31, the İYİ Party, even if it does not want to, will become one of the partners in the darkness that the AKP has created in the country.