The Kurdish Party in Turkiye not fielding a candidate in the election

Turkiye’s main pro-Kurdish Party said, Wednesday, it would not field a presidential candidate in May elections, giving tacit support to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rival in the crucial vote, AP reports.

According to the report, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) reduces the possibility of a damaging split of the anti-Erdogan vote, boosting the chances of the opposition alliance’s joint candidate, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

“We will not field a candidate in the presidential elections,” Pervin Buldan, the Party co-Chairwoman, told reporters.

“We will fulfil our historic responsibility to end one-man rule in the coming elections,” she said, condemning Erdogan’s consolidation of power over his two decades as Prime Minister and President.

The HDP’s decision strips Erdogan of a key voting bloc in what is widely seen as Turkiye’s most important election of its post-Ottoman history. Erdogan enjoyed some support from Kurdish voters earlier in his rule, the report added.