Özgür Özel, currently contending for Republican People's Party (CHP) leadership, has called for a reunion of Türkiye’s opposition parties ahead of local polls in March 2024.
The loss of May’s general and presidential elections led to a "devastation" in the six-party opposition coalition, the Nation Alliance, and an "emotional disconnect" between CHP and its voters, Ozel said Saturday during a visit to the southern Antalya province.
Citing a "high morale alliance capacity and unity" between opposition parties for the last local elections in 2019, Ozel described the current situation as "dangerous" and stressed that "the opposition must pull itself together and unite again."
"If voters look at the opposition and see no light, nothing will work. Here is change and reinvigoration," Ozel said, referring to the change movement that has thrown the CHP into disarray in recent months.
Fractions have plagued Türkiye’s oldest political party since CHP’s Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu lost a six-party opposition bloc’s best chance yet to unseat incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the May elections.
Having also ceded the parliamentary majority to the ruling Justice and Development Party-led (AK Party) People’s Alliance, the Nation Alliance dissolved the next month, with the second-biggest partner the Good Party (IP) walking out seemingly for good.
The bloc was originally founded between the CHP and the IP in 2018 for that year’s elections and later expanded to welcome four more parties. Their alliance helped put CHP mayors in Türkiye’s top megacities, Istanbul and Ankara, in addition to historical stronghold Izmir, for the first time in over two decades.
For May polls, the bloc had the Peoples' Democratic Party’s (HDP) controversial support, as well.
Now, both the HDP and IP have plans to compete with their own mayoral candidates next year, which would be a significant blow to the CHP’s chances.
A growing schism between Kılıçdaroğlu supporters and critics is also threatening CHP’s odds. The party is gearing up to elect a new chair, an executive council and a high disciplinary board at its 57th congress on Nov. 4-5.
A new leadership, which would replace Kılıçdaroğlu’s 13-year reign, could energize opposition masses in time for mayoral polls but the frustration among members and supporters over back-to-back election losses has come to a boiling point.
Kılıçdaroğlu himself has been endlessly criticized for the opposition’s failure and ignoring insistent calls for his resignation as even his trusted allies like Ekrem Imamoğlu, who became Istanbul mayor in a surprise 2019 win, came out of the woodwork demanding accountability.
Ozel said the upcoming intra-party elections would be in the name of "that rejuvenation, finding hope again and reunion."
Reiterating the need for "a more dynamic and younger" CHP, Ozel urged his fellow members to weigh the pros and cons of change at the party and assured them he would not "leave CHP in destitution."
In addition to Ozel, two other candidates have so far challenged Kılıçdaroğlu. A candidate needs approval signatures of at least 5% of all elected delegates, meaning 69 members, to be able to officially run for CHP chairpersonship.
Kılıçdaroğlu, who is yet to announce his bid formally, is likely to be nominated by delegates, while Özel is said to be the only other candidate close to achieving the required number.
Kılıçdaroğlu’s vocal dissidents won the Istanbul office in a provincial congress on Oct. 8 in a sign the upcoming congress could see a similar outcome but pundits say the scales are still in Kılıçdaroğlu’s favor.
On March 31, 2024, some 64 million eligible voters are due to elect new mayors and other office-holders in 81 provinces of Türkiye.