SW News: After months of disagreement, a six-party alliance on Monday picked the leader of the biggest opposition party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, as its consensus candidate to take on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the May presidential elections.

After a crucial coalition member who had rejected Kilicdaroglu's candidature agreed to a compromise and rejoined the grouping, the alliance chose the leader of the pro-secular, center-left Republican People's Party aka CHP.

Turkey will hold crucial presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14th that could either change the direction of the nation towards democracy or prolong Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian leadership for a third decade.

Kilicdaroglu oversaw Turkey's social security organization before being chosen to serve in the legislature in 2002. He gained notoriety by disclosing suspected corruption involving supporters of Erdogan's party and was chosen to succeed the outgoing CHP chairman who resigned due to a sex scandal. The CHP is the oldest political party in the nation and was founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey. Nevertheless, it has not held a central position of power since the 1990s. Yet Kilicdaroglu has expanded its appeal by allying with right-wing parties and embracing minority groups.

The quiet-spoken 74-year-old often known as "Turkey's Gandhi" due to his resemblance with Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi presents a drastically different image from that of the fiery Erdogan.

Also, he has demonstrated a willingness to oppose Erdogan, a leader who has grown more intolerant of criticism. Kilicdaroglu spearheaded attacks on the government following the earthquake in February that left more than 45,000 people dead in southeast Turkey. He blamed the government for tolerating corruption and low-quality construction.

Erdogan is expected to be more vulnerable in this election than in the ones before because of the nation's economic woes and the mistakes made by the administration during the devastating earthquakes.

Should they succeed in ousting Erdogan, the six-party coalition known as the Nation Alliance has threatened to dismantle the presidential system he instituted and reinstate a parliamentary democracy in Turkey.

The leaders of the five other parties would act as vice presidents, said a joint statement released after Kilicdaroglu's nomination. The mayors of Ankara and Istanbul would also be appointed as vice presidents at an appropriate time, according to the statement.