Turkey’s main opposition party nominates former teacher to challenge Erdogan in snap election

Turkey’s Republican People’s Party (CHP) on Friday nominated one of its most prominent lawmakers, former high school physics teacher Muharrem Ince, 54, to challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the June 24 snap presidential election. The secularist CHP, which is the main opposition party, has never won an election against Erdogan in his decade and a half in power. “I will be everyone’s president, a non-partisan president,” Ince told thousands of flag-waving supporters at a rally in Ankara, adding that “the depressing times will end on June 24.” Party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu has said he would not run for president. Ince is one of the most spirited speakers from the opposition in parliament. He ran as the sole challenger for party leadership against Kilicdaroglu in the last two CHP party elections.