Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairperson Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu is determined to stay in power after losing his presidential bid to incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in last month’s historic runoff despite a rising chorus of objections to his leadership.
The CHP, partnered with five others under the Nation Alliance for the landmark elections, also performed poorly in legislative polls, securing a total of 212 seats and losing the majority to the Justice and Development Party-led (AK Party) People’s Alliance in the 600-member Parliament.
Overlooking calls for his resignation, Kılıçdaroğlu will reportedly not only remain in his seat, but he will also run again in the upcoming general assembly, the party’s top decision-making organ that assesses and concludes the party’s general issues, principles and stance per internal bylaws.
Against mounting pressure over what many CHP voters called a “failure” to lead a successful election campaign, the party has solely blamed “unfair conditions” for the defeat. It also argued it would “learn from its mistakes” and “determinedly continue working for a better Türkiye.”
Yet, trouble seems to loom over Türkiye’s biggest opposition party, particularly its leadership.
Last week, all members of the central executive committee walked out on Kılıçdaroğlu, who “welcomed” their resignations, in what many called a move for the CHP leader to forsake his committee to hold on to the seat he has reserved since 2010.
Kılıçdaroğlu, who never once won against Erdoğan in the last dozen elections, has been criticized for lacking a general flare that would excite voters since long before he was named the joint presidential candidate of the six-party opposition bloc.
After May 28, public outcry escalated into outright demands for him to step down, a move that found backing within CHP ranks, as well.
CHP’s popular Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu has been “voluntarily helming” calls for change, arguing that CHP needs “self-criticism” and “somebody must answer.”
In a blatant callout to his leader, Imamoğlu on Wednesday lamented: “We lost three back-to-back presidential elections in the past nine years. We cannot repeat the mistake of thinking we can make headway by doing the same things after this election.”
Describing CHP as “the party that founded the Republic of Türkiye”, Imamoğlu said, “CHP can never be one to lose altitude. This process must be examined at the highest possible level.”
The party needs to account for its action from its headquarters to its smallest office, he told reporters in Istanbul.
When asked whether he would be running for CHP leadership in the upcoming general assembly, he said, “Change is vital. I clearly spoke about a powerful transformation from top to bottom last week, as well. I’m still demanding this change very strongly.”
He dismissed the idea that any shift in the CHP could be achieved via changing the executive committee and emphasized, “It’s not me describing change; it’s the people that want it. Going on by turning a deaf ear to this demand is unacceptable.”
Imamoğlu was also adamant the issue was not about “coveting a seat or rank” but “democracy” as it “describes the change.”
Imamoğlu, whom Kılıçdaroğlu fondly referred to as “my son” during the election campaign, has been an increasingly prominent figure in the opposition, managing to rally crowds on his own and even garnering broad support for a potential presidential bid way before the Nation Alliance named Kılıçdaroğlu as its presidential contender.
The two met for a closed-door meeting in Ankara last week, where sources claimed Kılıçdaroğlu tried to work out common ground with Imamoğlu.
Should he make a move for leadership, the Istanbul mayor, who is also facing a ban from politics in an ongoing lawsuit, is said to currently have the backing of some 40 provincial chairs and begrudged parliamentary candidates who did not make it to CHP’s election lists.
If the Istanbul mayor were to challenge Kılıçdaroğlu at the general assembly, he would not be the first CHP member to riot against Kılıçdaroğlu.
Muharrem Ince, a former lawmaker for CHP from the Yalova constituency, twice challenged the CHP leader and failed to garner enough votes to defeat him in CHP’s intra-party polls in 2014 and 2018.
Yet, Kılıçdaroğlu also nominated him as a contender against Erdoğan in the 2018 presidential elections, a time when Ince was credited with boosting the CHP’s vote for the first time in decades in such an election to over 30%.
After the post-election fallout with the CHP, Ince established his own party in 2021.
“It seem even (the party’s founder Mustafa Kemal) Atatürk himself wouldn’t be able to defeat Kılıçdaroğlu at CHP,” Ince had said as he quit.
Whether Imamoğlu would follow Ince’s footsteps or wield a different strategy to take over CHP leadership remains to be seen.
