A total of 216 members of the Nationalist Movement Party’s (MHP) Çanakkale provincial branch have resigned to join former MHP deputy Meral Akşener, who was expelled from the party, in her efforts to establish a new political party.
According to T24 website, former MHP Çanakkale provincial head Rıdvan Uz who recently joined Akşener announced that 216 more MHP members, including former Lapseki and Gökçeada mayors, resigned from party and they will submit their resignation soon to district election commissions.
On Wednesday, former MHP Isparta deputy Süleyman Nevzat Korkmaz also resigned from MHP to join Akşener’s efforts to form the new party which will be launched in October.
Korkmaz said he resigned from his party due to differences in political views with the MHP administration.
After MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli aligned with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on several issues, including introducing a presidential system of governance in Turkey following the Nov. 1 2015 elections, several MHP deputies and political figures either were expelled or resigned from the party due to differences in political views with the party administration.
After adopting a critical stance against Bahçeli and standing as a candidate for party leadership against him, Akşener was expelled by the MHP disciplinary committee in September 2016 by unanimous vote.
Akşener recently announced that a new political party that is to be “neither right, nor left” would be formed under her leadership in the early fall of 2017.
Several MHP provincial branch members resigned from their parties and former MHP deputies joined Akşener to support her new party.