Nation Alliance (Turkey)
The Nation Alliance (Turkish: Millet İttifakı), abbreviated as NATION (Turkish: MİLLET), was an electoral and political alliance in Turkey, made up of six opposition parties to contest the 2023 Turkish general election against its main rival, the People's Alliance. Originally established prior to the country's 2018 general election, the alliance had consisted of four opposition parties across the political spectrum, which had found common ground on withstanding Turkey's newly established presidential system. The alliance dissolved in 1 June 2023 following its narrow defeat in the 2023 elections, after the Good Party's announcement that they were no longer a part of it.
Nation Alliance Millet İttifakı | |
---|---|
Leader | Collective leadership (Table of Six) |
Presidential candidate | Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu |
Founded | 5 May 2018 |
Dissolved | 28 May 2023 |
Ideology | Strengthened parliamentary system (ideologies vary by party) |
Political position | Big tent |
Members | CHP İYİ DEVA GP SAADET DP |
Slogan | "United we will win!" (Birleşe birleşe kazanacağız!) |
Grand National Assembly | 212 / 600 |
Metropolitan municipalities | 11 / 30 |
District municipalities | 277 / 1,351 |
Provincial councillors | 209 / 1,251 |
Municipal Assemblies | 6,206 / 20,498 |
Website | |
milletittifaki | |
Although Nation had become inactive as a bloc following their defeat in 2018; the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Good Party (İYİ) restored the alliance for the 2019 local elections, which delivered the opposition their first major electoral successes in years. The alliance enlarged, welcoming two breakaway parties from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP); namely the Future Party (GP) and Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA). Shortly after the enlargement, Nation Alliance announced its prospective government platform, becoming the first political entity in Turkey to do so prior to an election.
Generally, the platform puts a particular emphasis on establishing a strengthened parliamentary system; reversing the current trend of democratic backsliding, reinstating rule of law and separation of powers, as well as improving Turkey's human rights record.
The Nation Alliance of 2018, nominated their individual candidates for the presidency, and the alliance had more of an electoral focus than a political one, interconnecting parties with vaguely defined precepts. The alliance of 2023 strived to act with consensus; laying the groundwork of a potential democratic transition in post-Erdoğan Turkey.