Özel: CHP launches snap election preparations

Özel: CHP launches snap election preparations

ANKARA
Özel: CHP launches snap election preparationsÖzel: CHP launches snap election preparations

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel announced on Jan. 28 that the party has launched preparations for early elections, marking a significant step in its long-standing call.

A nearly three-month roadmap will include identifying polling officials and drafting a party program as if it were governing, Özel told a parliamentary event.

The final step will see the CHP's nearly 1.6 million members choose the party's presidential candidate.

“Today is the first day of a new march against this evil, cruelty, desperate injustice, arrogance of power and those who violently want to keep the seat they came to through democracy,” Özel said.

He hinted at the potential candidacies of CHP's popular Istanbul and Ankara mayors, Ekrem İmamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş.

"We are in full agreement with Mr. Ekrem and Mr. Mansur... to be ready for a new beginning," Özel said, describing them as “both heroes of democracy."

The CHP leader extended an invitation to non-members to join the party and participate in the candidate selection process.

"I'm calling out everyone who wants to determine the [CHP's] presidential candidate together with the 1.6 million brave hearts. I'm calling out to the retirees, the workers, the poor and especially the youth," Özel said.

"Everyone who registers with the party will be able to vote in the presidential nomination election. We invite Türkiye."

Özel has been vocal in his demand for early elections since CHP’s notable gains in the March 31 local elections last year.

The CHP secured 37 percent of the vote, surpassing the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) 35 percent — a historic first for the main opposition party.

Türkiye's next presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled for 2028.