İYİ Party retools top board following convention

ANKARA

The İYİ (Good) Party has announced a sweeping overhaul of its leadership ranks as reelected chair Müsavat Dervişoğlu moves to stabilize a party shaken by internal defections.

The reshuffle followed a Jan. 21 meeting of the party’s newly elected General Administrative Board. Dervişoğlu opted not to reappoint seven former colleagues to his executive team, including Uğur Poyraz and Mehmet Aslan.

Among the key appointments, Buğra Kavuncu has been named party spokesperson and deputy leader for parliamentary relations. Osman Ertürk Özel will serve as secretary-general, while Yasin Öztürk takes over the role of organizational affairs.

Burak Dalgın — who recently defected from the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA Party) — was appointed deputy leader for economic policies. Former minister Ahmet Eşref Fakıbaba will oversee health policies, and İpek Sayan Özkal has been tasked with social policies.

After breaking away from the main opposition alliance to run independently in last year’s local elections, the İYİ Party saw its national vote share drop from 7.3 percent to 3.7 percent.

That decline prompted the departure of founding chair Meral Akşener last April and triggered a wave of resignations. The party’s presence in the parliament has dwindled from 43 deputies at the start of the legislative term to just 30 today.

During the Jan. 18 convention in Ankara, Dervişoğlu received unanimous support from all 1,180 delegates. Party members also approved amendments to 56 articles of the party’s charter.