Alliance picks main opposition leader to run against Erdogan

By SUZAN FRASER
Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A six-party alliance has nominated the leader of Turkey’s main opposition party as its common candidate to challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in elections in May, ending months of uncertainty and bickering that had frustrated their supporters. The alliance picked Kemal Kilicdaroglu, hours after a key member of the grouping — who had rejected his candidacy — agreed to a compromise solution and returned to the coalition. Turkey is headed toward pivotal presidential and general elections on May 14 that could shift the country toward a more democratic course or extend Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian rule into a third decade. Kilicdaroglu is the leader of the pro-secular, center-left Republican People’s Party, or CHP.