An Ankara court on Tuesday ruled to annul the results of a Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) extraordinary congress held by dissidents in the party last summer.
The dissidents, Meral Akşener, Sinan Oğan, Ümit Özdağ, Koray Aydın, Mustafa Sait Gönen and Süleyman Servet Sazak, held the extraordinary congress in Ankara on June 16, 2016 despite objections from the party’s general headquarters.
During the congress, the party’s delegates amended the 63rd article of the party’s bylaws, which said, “Elections cannot be held during an extraordinary congress.”
However, the party’s general headquarters did not approve the amendment and challenged the extraordinary congress at the Ankara 3rd Civil Court of First Instance.
The court announced its ruling on Tuesday and moved to cancel the results of the dissident-led MHP extraordinary congress.
One of the leading dissident figures in the MHP, Akşener, criticized the court ruling from her Twitter account on Tuesday.
“The results of the congress have been cancelled. The trial has been concluded in 10 minutes. We waited for one year for a decision that would be made in 10 minutes. The will of 700 delegates has been ignored,” wrote Akşener.
There were claims that Akşener, who has run for MHP leadership, might choose to establish a new political party in the event the court were to cancel the results of last year’s congress.