ANKARA: Turkey’s main opposition party on Friday named a senior lawmaker known for his fiery and impassioned rhetoric as its candidate to challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in next month’s election, paving the way for a potentially bruising campaign.

The candidate of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) in the June 24 poll is Muharrem Ince, CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu announced.

“On June 24, I will, God willing, be president by the wish of the people,” Ince said after being called to the stage at an Ankara rally by Kilicdaroglu.

“For 80 million people (Turkey’s population)... I will be everyone’s president. I will be an unbiased president,” he added.

The candidacy of Ince, a former physics teacher and MP since 2002, was approved at a meeting of CHP MPs where all 110 of its lawmakers voted for him to stand.

Kilicdaroglu had already made clear he would not run.

Ince, who turned 54 on Friday, faces an uphill struggle to convince voters, as he is running against Turkey’s most experienced and rhetorically-gifted campaigner in the shape of Erdogan.

Yet Ince’s greatest political assets are his rhetorical skills and impassioned speeches which have made him a favourite with the CHP faithful in recent years.

“Muharrem Ince is the best candidate the CHP could select in terms of rallying the party base,” Sinan Ulgen, chairman of the Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy and visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, said.

“He will be able to ensure a large turnout of the CHP electorate on election day.” Ince’s tough talking has drawn a sharp contrast with the more bookish manners of Kilicdaroglu, who has led the CHP since 2010 but without ever seriously troubling Erdogan.

Ince twice — in 2014 and 2018 — challenged Kilicdaroglu for the leadership of the CHP but failed to oust the incumbent head.

He has generally been more ready than Kilicdaroglu to adopt a gloves-off approach towards Erdogan, raising the prospect of a fierce political campaign.

In his acceptance speech to the CHP meeting, Ince showed he would have no fear confronting Erdogan, describing him as “a so-called world leader (who) is everyday ranting and raving”.

Ince said Erdogan’s new presidential palace, which opened in 2014 to sneers from the opposition, should be handed over to the youth and made a “home for science”.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2018