CHP not to convene congress amid lack of delegate signatures

ANKARA

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) will not convene an extraordinary congress as the party headquarters announced the number of the signatures demanding leadership change is insufficient.

The headquarters announced on Aug. 6 the number of signatures admissible for the convention of the extraordinary congress is 569, falling short from 630, which is the necessary number of bringing a party to the congress with a leadership change.

The CHP has been tackling with in-house debates over two weeks as Muharrem İnce and his supporters have been in the process of signature collection to change the party management.

After two weeks of signature collection, dissidents announced last week that they have 630 signatures sufficient to bring the party to a congress. However, the headquarters argue they have received only 605 admissible signatures.

It was stated by the party administration that five of 605 signatures grounded their demand for a congress in different reasons and to be admissible, all signatures should address the same reason for such demand. The administration also said 31 of the delegates have withdrawn their signatures, leaving 569 admissible signatures.

According to the party by-law, a simple majority of all delegates have to issue their signatures with notary approval to the administration to bring the party to a congress with an agenda of leadership change.

It was reported the dissidents may bring the signatures to the judicial authorities for further assessment.

Some dissident members have posted on their social media accounts that if the party would not convene the congress, they will not stand for local elections, while some 15 delegates have held a sit-in protest outside of the party headquarters before the announcement.

İnce: CHP should convene congress

Before the party’s announcement, Muharrem İnce had issued a statement arguing the political situation in the social democratic party necessitates a convention stating that “it is no longer a problem of number of delegates.”

“Numerical sufficiency, our delegates and members have more than enough political will,” he said in a written statement issued on Aug. 5.

He said according to the political party’s law, five thirds of the number of delegates are sufficient to bring the party to a convention. However, the CHP’s by-law raises it to simple majority.

He argued it is “undemocratic” and in this situation, not to bring the party to a congress “would amount to not understanding the circumstances.”

“The majority of the CHP delegates have a strong belief that there will be no change in the party. This belief has transformed into serious concerns, which may result in resignations and not giving votes,” he said.

“For this reason, to postpone changes in the party would mean to make politics against voters,” he added.

Top executive board to be changed

Meanwhile, CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu is reportedly mulling over overhauling the party management in a bid to address criticisms voiced within the party.

According to party sources, Kılıçdaroğlu is planning to reshuffle its top executive board, as all 17 deputy leaders will resign from the board at the next Central Executive Board meeting to be held on Aug. 8.