Five parliamentary candidates of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) withdrew from elections due to disappointment related to their low ranks in the candidate lists for the upcoming June 24 elections.

In Black Sea province of Trabzon, Ferda Kudunoğlu announced his withdrawal following the candidate list announcement. He also gave up his CHP membership.In the southeastern Gaziantep province where 14 parliamentarians will be elected in the June 24 elections, four CHP candidates have withdrawn their candidacies.Former province head Nesrin Tuncel, Naci Kılıç, Yılmaz Demirdelen and Mehmet Turan Gündoğdu, who are respectively nominated in the ninth, seventh, 13th and 14th ranks, also withdrew their applications.

Tuncel said the party did not hold a primary election due to the limited time frame, adding that she nevertheless would prefer primary elections as she believes they are a more democratic way to determine candidates.

She added that the lack of the nominated female candidates was also disappointing. "We think that the principles of merit and equality were violated. Even though we withdrew our applications, we will still work for our candidate," she said.

Kılıçdaroğlu held a series of meetings with party authorities on Sunday and discussed the names of the candidates to be included on the list. The final list was approved by the CHP's party assembly and then submitted to the Supreme Election Council (YSK) yesterday.

Among those included on the list were former Party Chairman Deniz Baykal, who was replaced by Kılıçdaroğlu in 2010 after a sex scandal, and former deputy prime minister who served in the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government between 2002 and 2007, Abdüllatif Şener. Baykal, 79, is currently recuperating from a brain aneurysm.