Turkey’s main opposition party re-elected its leader, Özgür Özel, at an extraordinary congress Sunday as it faces what critics call politically motivated legal challenges aimed at weakening the movement against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Delegates of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) overwhelmingly backed Özel at the 22nd extraordinary congress in Ankara. He won all 835 valid votes, while 82 ballots were declared invalid.
The re-election was seen as a move to blunt a lawsuit that seeks to overturn the results of the CHP’s November 2023 congress, when Özel was first chosen as leader, on allegations of vote rigging. The case had its second hearing Monday.
“The party is under attack, and they are trying every possible method,” Özel said after the vote, according to Turkish media reports. He described Sunday’s congress as a “technical and legal maneuver” intended to eliminate the basis of the lawsuit.
CHP officials say they are also using the congress to refine their strategy as they face mounting obstacles. The party scored a major victory in the March 2024 local elections, defeating Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in key cities.
Since then, the CHP has come under heavy pressure. İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, widely seen as the party’s strongest potential challenger to Erdoğan in the 2028 presidential race, was jailed in March on corruption charges he denies. His removal sparked massive protests led by Özel, the largest demonstrations in Turkey since the 2013 Gezi Park unrest.
In September a court annulled the October 2023 election of CHP’s İstanbul branch leader, Özgür Çelik, and 195 other officials. Political analyst Berk Esen called the ruling a “rehearsal” for the broader case targeting the national leadership.
It was not immediately clear how Sunday’s vote would affect that lawsuit, which is set to continue October 24. Meanwhile, the CHP’s İstanbul branch will hold its own extraordinary congress Wednesday to elect new leadership.
© Agence France-Presse