Since then, the party's former co-leader and 2014 presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtaş has been widely regarded as the frontrunner to be the HDP's candidate. However, Demirtaş has remained imprisoned since November 2016 awaiting trial on a multitude of charges ranging from insulting the president to inciting terrorism. Following the announcement of the early election, Demirtaş announced that his party would work to find an effective and encompassing candidate, ruling himself out of the race. On 24 April, HDP co-leader Sezai Temelli announced that they would field a candidate that was 'strong and will encompass all of Turkey.' On 24 April, it was reported that despite initial speculation to the contrary, Demirtaş would be the HDP's candidate for the second time. This was confirmed on 25 April, as the HDP executive voted to nominate him as their candidate. The İyi Party, formed on 25 October 2017, has campaigned on the promise of reverting Turkey back to a parliamentary system of government, as opposed to the executive presidency that will take effect following the elections. The party's leader Meral Akşener declared her candidacy for the presidency on the day of her party's establishment, becoming one of the earliest declared candidates. On 18 April 2018, shortly after the early election was announced, Akşener re-affirmed her candidacy and stated that her party would find 100,000 signatures nominated her as a candidate. Early in the evening of May 4, 2018, it was announced that Akşener received 127,850 signatures, becoming the first of the four candidates to cross the threshold. Despite winning less than 1% of the vote in the previous general election, the Felicity Party's (SP) candidate selection process was subject to much media speculation due to the prospect of them joining an anti-Erdoğan alliance and fielding a joint candidate. The recent success of SP leader Temel Karamollaoğlu in gaining media attention for his party meant that the leaders of both the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the İyi Party met with Karamollaoğlu to discuss a joint alliance. Karamollaoğlu proposed Abdullah Gül as a joint candidate, but heavy opposition from the CHP and the insistence of Meral Akşener on being her own party's candidate led to this proposal being rejected. The SP conducted an internal poll of four candidates, which emerged with Temel Karamollaoğlu being announced as the party's candidate on 1 May.