Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) on May 4 nominated 54-year-old ex-high school physics teacher Muharrem Ince as its candidate to take on President Tayyip Erdogan in the snap presidential election called for June 24.

Ince, one of the secularist CHP's most prominent MPs and seen as a spirited politician, was introduced to party supporters at a rally in Ankara by party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu. He declared: “I will be everyone’s president, a non-partisan president. The depressing times will end on June 24.”

Those backing Ince say he will be able to combat Erdogan's harsh rhetoric with his own and pull in some of the more conservative and right-wing voters, as well as CHP’s base voters, typically secular, Western-oriented Turks. But the most dangerous challenge to Erdogan—who thanks to constitutional changes approved in a referendum last year would become the hugely powerful executive president of Turkey, with no prime minister and a diminished parliament if he wins the election—is not seen as coming from Ince but from popular ex-interior minister, Meral Aksener. She last year founded the Iyi (Good) Party after splitting with the nationalist MHP, which has formed a formal alliance named the People Alliance with Erdogan. Aksener is expected to make it into a run-off round with the incumbent.

On May 5, the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) nominated its jailed former leader Selahattin Demirtas to run for president. This prompted Ince to challenge Erdogan at a CHP rally by saying: “The HDP are also children of this nation, the AKP are also children of this country... Don’t keep Demirtas in jail. Come, let’s race like men.”
In his first interview with international media since being nominated, Demirtas, who has been in jail on security charges for a year and a half, told Reuters a fair election was impossible under the state of emergency imposed after the July 2016 coup attempt.

Meanwhile, the CHP, Iyi, and Saadet Party and the Democrat Party on May 5 entered into an election alliance to form a broad coalition, the Nation Alliance, against Erdogan and his Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) for the parliamentary elections, which will run in parallel with the parliamentary contest. The alliance said it is seeking to stop and reverse the polarisation of society caused by the populist AKP, create independence for the judiciary and ensure basic rights and freedoms can be exercised. The formation of the alliance has prompted speculation that the CHP could withdraw its candidate in the second round of voting and provide its support to Aksener.

The CHP has never won an election against Erdogan during his 16 years in power either as prime minister or president.

Claims of a media embargo
Ince on May 6 hit out on Twitter at a lack of mainstream media election coverage for opposition parties and candidates, claiming a “media embargo” had been placed on opposition parties upon Erdogan’s request.

“Television channels, which even broadcast the AK Party’s provincial congresses live, did not show our rally in Yalova live. We will go on by fighting with this media structure,” Ince tweeted.

“If the media embargo ordered by the Palace continues, we will hold our rallies in front of TV stations,” he added, referring to the 1,000 room presidential palace built by Erdogan in Ankara.

Ince has said that if he wins the election he will not reside at the palace, but will instead turn it into a place of learning.

Erdogan typically makes two or three speeches a day, which are widely covered by state broadcast media.