CHP faces resignations amid candidacy war ahead of Turkish vote
CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu addresses supporters at an event in the capital Ankara, Türkiye, April 2, 2023. (AA Photo)

Cracks emerge in the main opposition CHP as it heads to the May 14 elections over a dispute on candidates that will apparently be picked undemocratically, something that may trigger resignations, according to a former lawmaker



The Republican People’s Party (CHP), the leader of a six-party opposition alliance and the biggest rival of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), faces a new challenge, of its own making.

As its alliance includes political minnows who are unlikely to win enough votes for parliamentary seats, the CHP is forced to admit candidates from other parties as well for the May 14 elections. This can lead to internecine strife and eventual resignations.

The party was already criticized for skipping intraparty voting on potential parliamentary candidates, apparently in a bid to make room for candidates from its smaller allies. Sources say anger is growing among local branches of the CHP across Türkiye over some likely names crossed off in the candidate lists.

Commenting on the situation, a former state minister and a former CHP lawmaker Mehmet Sevigen said "All hell will break loose on April 9," the deadline for the preparation of candidate lists. "Once the lists are out, we will see mass resignations," he told the Sabah newspaper on Tuesday.

The CHP appears to be backsliding into autocracy, turning a blind eye to its devoted members for the sake of the alliance, which is united with a single goal: To unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Erdoğan and his AK Party won successive elections for over two decades. Sevigen condemned his former party which shelved voting for potential candidates. "They are excluding their own flesh and blood for the sake of other parties. They already crossed off all Atatürkists in the party," he said.

He was referring to Kemalists, the backbone of the party established by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Republic of Türkiye. Kemalists pursue a more right-wing yet strictly secular ideology, unlike the current CHP, which is a mix of people of different ideologies.

Under current chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the party faced criticism for deviating from the Kemalist path and aligning itself with fringe, far-left groups and the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), which is an affiliate of the terrorist group PKK.

Sevigen said Kılıçdaroğlu, the presidential candidate of the opposition bloc, will be defeated in the election and lamented how far "a founding party of Türkiye has fallen." The CHP is the first party of post-World War I and Türkiye remained strongest until the country held its first multiparty elections, on May 14, 1950.

"They went as far as promising to remove trustees and emergency decrees," Sevigen said. Kılıçdaroğlu has vowed to end the practice of appointing trustees to municipalities whose mayors are removed from office for links to terrorism and other crimes. Trustees are usually appointed to municipalities run by the HDP if their mayors are convicted of charges of abetting terrorism.

In several cases, HDP municipalities were found providing financial support to the PKK terrorist group. Emergency decrees Sevigen cited refer to decrees that terminated the employment of many people suspected of having links to the terrorist groups, in the aftermath of a 2016 coup attempt perpetrated by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ). The CHP claims the fired personnel are unfairly sacked.

"There is talk of local autonomy (for municipalities) and close ties with the HDP. The CHP now has a mission against all the values of Türkiye. So, I don’t think the Good Party (IP) will support this CHP," he said. IP, the second biggest party in the opposition alliance, is known for its nationalist stance and opposition to the HDP’s ties with the PKK. The CHP and HDP's proximity led to the resignation of an IP lawmaker while the party’s leader Meral Akşener voiced her staunch opposition to such an alliance.

The opposition bloc faces trouble in creating a list of candidates because of the division among them. The Felicity Party (SP) sought to form a new alliance within the alliance with the Future Party (GP) and the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA), splitting from others that adopt more nationalist or left-wing policies. But the DEVA opposes the SP’s efforts for the new alliance. In the meantime, the Good Party (IP) opposes taking in candidates loyal to other opposition parties for their candidate lists in nearly 60 out of 81 provinces.

SP Chair Temel Karamollaoğlu earlier claimed that the work was almost finished to form a new alliance, but the DEVA appears to be dragging its feet. The small party, founded by former AK Party member Ali Babacan, believes they will succeed in garnering enough votes for their potential deputies, particularly in the Black Sea region.

They are reluctant to join the SP’s lists to showcase their potential and harness more future voters. The GP, also founded by former AK Party members, has the difficult task of convincing the DEVA to join the alliance.

On the other hand, the IP rejects the DEVA’s proposal to form an alliance in some constituencies. The IP solely negotiated with CHP on whose list the candidates would be nominated. At the end of the day, parties will likely agree upon having a single list with one party logo in some 10 provinces, according to the reports.