Ousted CHP leader renews call for early national polls

NİĞDE

Ousted main opposition leader Özgür Özel has renewed his call for early nationwide elections as a leadership dispute continues to deepen divisions within the Republican People’s Party (CHP) following a court ruling that overturned his administration.

“I’m telling Mr. [President] Erdoğan ... If you have the courage, come out and face us, let’s compete a second time, let’s beat you a second time,” Özel said at a gathering of supporters in the central province of Niğde.

The CHP has been split since a court ruling in May declared Özel’s election at the party’s 2023 convention invalid, effectively restoring former chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and creating competing claims to the leadership.

“I’m announcing this to all of Türkiye. Even if only one person remains, we will not turn back from this path, we will not stop this march to power,” Özel said.

Özel and his allies have called for an extraordinary vote to resolve the dispute by allowing party delegates to elect a new leadership. The Kılıçdaroğlu-aligned faction, however, argues that legal restrictions prevent such a gathering and says the party should hold its regular convention in September.

More than 800 CHP delegates have signed a petition supporting an extraordinary congress, according to party officials.

Meanwhile, the Kılıçdaroğlu-aligned administration has continued restructuring the party’s provincial organizations. It dismissed seven more provincial chairmen on July 10 following decisions taken at a recent party congress meeting.

Kılıçdaroğlu’s spokesperson, Müslim Sarı, said new provincial chairs had been appointed to fill the vacant posts in Afyonkarahisar, Giresun, Trabzon, Yozgat, Burdur, Aydın and Tekirdağ.

The move followed the dismissal of 26 provincial chairmen at a June 30 meeting. In some provinces, district-level party organizations were also removed.

The party administration also referred the provincial chairmen of Denizli, Muğla, Eskişehir, Sinop, Düzce, Kars and Tunceli to the disciplinary committee, seeking their permanent expulsion.