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The emerging main opposition New Party is continuing preparations for its first ordinary convention, scheduled to take place on Nov. 14-15.
Citing the party sources, the Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency on Nov. 1 reported that the countdown has begun for the congress of the New Party, which began operating this year as Türkiye’s 189th political party and assumed the title of the main opposition party by virtue of its parliamentary seat count.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was reinstated as the party leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) following a court ruling over alleged irregularities at the party’s 2023 convention. He had lost the leadership race at the convention to Özgür Özel.
Özel resigned from the CHP on July 24, taking 90 lawmakers with him to establish the New Party.
As part of the New Party’s congress calendar, which began on Aug. 26, delegates to the congress have been determined through primaries and provincial and district-level conventions held across the country.
Under the congress schedule, New Party leader Özel will stand in primaries across all 81 provinces on Nov. 8, seeking to secure his leadership through a vote by party members.
Those who join the party by Nov. 5 will be eligible to cast ballots in the primaries.
The congress, the party’s highest decision-making body, will subsequently convene on Nov. 14-15, following a decision taken at a meeting of the Party Assembly (PM) on Oct. 28.
The two-day congress will begin with the election of the congress presidium, followed by an address by party leader Özel.
More than 1,000 delegates will then cast their votes to elect the party chairman, the 80-member Party Assembly and the 15-member High Disciplinary Board.
Under the party’s rules, anyone seeking to run for party chairman must submit a written application to the congress presidium backed by the signatures of at least 5 percent of the total number of delegates.
The party chairman is elected by secret ballot and must secure an absolute majority of the total membership. If no candidate obtains the required votes in the first two rounds, the candidate receiving the highest number of votes in the third round is declared elected.
