Turkey's Pro-Kurdish Party Withdraws Candidate, Dealing Blow to Erdogan's Election Hopes

Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and its allies will not field a presidential candidate in May, but will run for parliament under the Green Left Party to circumvent its potential closure. Recent polls show President Erdogan trailing Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the candidate of the Nation Alliance, made up of six parties. The HDP's votes will be crucial for the opposition to exceed the 50% required to elect the president on May 14 and also secure a majority in parliament in the polls on the same day.