The party, whose name succinctly means the “Good Party,” is headed by Meral AkSener, a former minister.

In a related development reported by BBC Turkish, fifteen MPs from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) defected to the new party. They join five former Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) MPs, who had formed the original backbone of the party, including Aksener.

This development means that Iyi has cleared a hurdle that would have required that it collect 100,000 signatures to run for president, NRT reported.

Polls vary widely, but show that it enjoys a reasonably high level of support.

According to Al Jazeera, it lists pluralism, democracy, the rule of law, freedom of speech, and nationalist values as some of its founding principles.

There had been speculation that it would be inedible to run, as it was so new.

Reporter’s code: 50101