CHP leader faces yet another challenge for an extraordinary convention

ANKARA

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A long-time dissident has called for an extraordinary convention of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), adding to current calls for a leadership change following the Nov. 1 snap elections.

“This opposition is not able to change the AKP rule. Then there is only one thing to do: change the opposition,” Muharrem İnce, CHP’s Yalova deputy, said at a press conference on Nov. 9.

A former CHP deputy, Umut Oran, who last week called for an extraordinary convention, meanwhile, announced that he asked for an appointment with CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

In a message posted to his Twitter account, Oran’s press advisor said Oran and Kılıçdaroğlu might hold a meeting on either Nov. 11 or Nov. 12, without making clear whether Kılıçdaroğlu responded affirmatively to their request.

In order to convene an extraordinary convention, dissidents must obtain the signatures of one fifth of the nearly 1,300 delegates that would be invited to the gathering. Yet, in order to convene a convention that would also address the election or reelection of a leader, they must obtain the signatures of one more than half of the delegates. 

“I’m calling on members of the CHP, the delegates of the convention. Look at PASOK in Greece and see your future. If we don’t want to live the same situation as PASOK, then we should take measures,” İnce said, referring to the Panhellenic Socialist Movement, which lost much of its popular support during Greece’s economic crisis.

Last week, CHP executives dismissed calls for an extraordinary party convention, as an upcoming convention would be held in either late January or early February 2016 anyway.