Akşener signals her continued leadership as İYİ Party leader

ANKARA

İYİ (Good) Party founder and leader Meral Akşener signaled she would continue to be the party’s leader after announcing she would not be a candidate for the leadership position in the upcoming extraordinary congress amid efforts to persuade her from her supporters.

“I am here at the party to convene our chairmanship council. Following Aug. 12, we will prepare for the local elections and determine our candidates quickly,” she said before the party’s top executive board meeting on July 30.

Her statement came after she announced on July 24 the party would convene its extraordinary congress on Aug. 12 and she would not be a candidate in response to the partial criticisms of the election results.

Following her announcement, her supporters have staged demonstrations outside of her apartment for days in a bid to “persuade her for leadership.”

She has not commented on her withdrawal from candidacy since her announcement, however, party sources state the party delegates are collecting signatures to present her as a candidate in the upcoming congress.

On July 28, she had addressed her supporters at her Istanbul apartment, stating she would convene the party’s top executive body on July 30.

By convening the top board, “Akşener was bound to decide to return to the party and manage the process.” said İYİ Party deputy group leader Ahat Andican, according to daily Sözcü.

Speaking before the party’s top board meeting, she said the June 24 election results for the party was “disappointing,” and the party needed a congress to discuss “the wrongs and rights” committed during the campaigning period.

Akşener said her party had “tangible and high” targets and they “had failed to meet them.”

“Personally, it has resulted as a grand disappointment. We have convened a workshop, I have listened to everybody. In terms of this disappointment, if there is a failure, the responsibility is mine. That is why I have decided to convene the Congress,” she added.

Following the congress, the party would focus on the upcoming local elections to be held in March 2019.

“We will work to determine our candidates and we will work for a better result in the elections,” Akşener said, which was interpreted as a signal for the continuation of her leadership.

The İYİ Party was founded in late 2017 with former Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) lawmaker and dissident Akşener. It received 10 percent of votes in the parliamentary elections while presidential candidate Akşener received 7.3.