CHP vote endorses Özel’s full leadership slate

ANKARA

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) on Nov. 30 backed leader Özgür Özel’s entire proposed management team at the party’s 39th regular convention.

The three-day gathering, held under the slogan “Now is the Time for Power,” concluded with delegates electing an 80-member Party Assembly and a 15-member disciplinary board. Özel’s full key list, including the lineup for the party’s science, culture and arts platform, was approved.

Özel, reelected on Nov. 29 with all 1,333 valid votes, kept all current central executive committee members on his slate. The convention also expanded the science, culture and arts platform’s representation within the Party Assembly from eight to 10.

Forty-eight members retained their seats in the enlarged 80-member assembly, while 32 newcomers joined the leadership. Former CHP lawmaker Polat Şaroğlu, tax expert Ozan Bingöl, MP Ali Gökçek and central executive committee members Gamze Taşçıer and Deniz Yavuzyılmaz were among the top vote-getters.

New additions included Oya Ünlü Kızıl, a former advisor to late Economy Minister Kemal Derviş; economist Kerim Rota, formerly of the Future Party; and political scientist Barış Övgün. Other prominent appointees were economist Güldem Atabay and Serkan Özcan, an advisor to jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.

Former deputy İlhan Cihaner, law professor Şule Özsoy Boyunsuz, former Turkish Veterinary Doctors Association head Murat Aslan, former Ambassador to Nicosia Ömer Kaya Türkmen and former Ankara Municipality press advisor Volkan Gültekin also joined the assembly.

MPs Evrim Rızvanoğlu and Salih Uzun, along with artist Tolga Sağ and former CHP executive Bihlun Tamaylıgil, were elected to the top ranks as well.

Several figures from the previous team — including Ali Haydar Fırat, Semra Dinçer, Berkay Gezgin and Emine Uçak Erdoğan — did not seek reelection.

"This is our last convention in opposition; we will hold our 40th convention in power,” Özel told delegates in his victory speech, signaling an intensified campaign for snap elections despite national polls being scheduled for 2028.

Delegates also approved a fully revised party program on Nov. 28, the first comprehensive update in 17 years. Titled “Strong Citizens, Secure Future, Winning Türkiye,” the document outlines prospective CHP governance plans across democracy and justice, economic development, the social state and foreign policy and security. Party officials described it as both a modernization effort and a blueprint for a future government.

The CHP has held two extraordinary conventions earlier this year, each reaffirming Özel’s leadership amid legal questions surrounding its 2023 convention.