Örsan Öymen on YRP: The fairy tale that YRP is taking votes from the AKP and will cause the AKP to lose...

The tension between the Yeniden Refah Party and the AKP, which entered the General Elections under the umbrella of the People's Alliance, continues to rise. The tension between the two parties and the rise in the Yeniden Refah Party's votes are being closely followed by the opposition.

Yeniden Refah Party (YRP) Chairman Fatih Erbakan announced in a post made during the night that their membership numbers had exceeded 500 thousand. It is being discussed in political circles that the rise of the YRP will harm the AKP. The tension between the two parties, which have similar bases, is also raising the opposition's expectations for the local elections.

Prof. Dr. Örsan Öymen, who was also a CHP Chairmanship Candidate at the congress held in November, opposed these expectations. Making a statement on the subject from his social media account, Öymen said, "If the CHP pins its hopes on the YRP to win the elections, it will lose the elections in many places, including Istanbul."

Öymen wrote the following:

I am looking at some comments in media outlets opposed to the AKP, such as Halk TV, Tele 1, KRT, and Sözcü TV, and I am once again astonished. They claim that a portion of the AKP's votes will shift to the Yeniden Refah Party and that, thanks to this, CHP candidates will win in many places. They are in a fantasy world, just as they were before the 2023 elections.

The majority of the YRP base will vote for AKP candidates in the March 31 municipal elections. The statement by YRP Central Decision and Executive Board member Abdurrahman Akyüz that the YRP should support AKP candidate Murat Kurum in Istanbul is a reflection of this. In his statement yesterday, he also said that many YRP executives think like him. The statements of YRP Chairman Fatih Erbakan are contrary to the de facto situation and political sociology.

If the CHP pins its hopes on the YRP to win the elections, it will lose the elections in many places, including Istanbul. Taking into account the reality that the YRP base will shift to the AKP, the segment of the electorate that tends not to go to the polls must definitely go to the polls and vote for CHP candidates; voters of the IYI Party and the Victory Party (Zafer Partisi), which have no chance of winning in most places, must also definitely vote for CHP candidates. Otherwise, not only the CHP but also Turkey will lose; the opportunity to show a red card to the theocratic dictatorship regime, and to enemies of the Republic and Atatürk in the context of constitutional change, will disappear; the resources of the municipalities will be placed at the service of anti-secular sects, communities, and the AKP media.

The fairy tale that the YRP is taking votes from the AKP and will cause the AKP to lose prevents the portion of the CHP electorate that is reactive to the administration from going to the polls and consolidating in favor of CHP candidates, and prevents IYI Party and Victory Party voters from forming an electoral alliance at the ballot box in favor of CHP candidates.

News Source: 12punto