CHP congress where Özel won the leadership sees 380 running for the Party Assembly

The voting process for the Party Assembly (PM) and High Discipline Committee (YDK) elections concluded in the early hours of the morning today (November 6) in the 38th Ordinary Congress of the Republican People's Party (CHP), which saw the election of former group chairperson Özgür Özel as the party's new President on Sunday. 

The congress under the main slogan "Democracy and Unity Congress in the Second Century" witnessed a competition for the CHP leadership among CHP President Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, CHP Group Chairperson Özgür Özel, former PM member Örsan Kunter Öymen, and Ünal Karahasan.

Özgür Özel won the CHP leadership in the second round of the congress with 812 votes. Kılıçdaroğlu, who received 536 votes, lost the party leadership after not being able to defeat Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the presidential elections in May where he ran as the joint candidate of the opposition. 

For the upcoming elections for the Party Assembly (PM) and the High Discipline Committee (YDK) on the second day of the congress, 380 candidates applied for PM, and 98 for YDK. The application process ended at 19:00 the previous day. Following the announcement of the presiding board, the voting process took place at 23 ballot boxes and concluded in the early hours of the morning.

The members of the 60-person PM and the 15-member YDK will be determined with the results of the morning count. Delegates will also select members of the Science Management and Culture Platform (BYKP).

Second round for leadership for first time in CHP history

In the CHP congress the voting process was completed in the first round of the election for Presidency, which Öymen and Karahasan withdrew from, as of 11:00 pm on Saturday (November4). According to the count, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu received 664 votes, while Özgür Özel received 682 delegates' votes. 18 votes were invalid, and 2 were blank.

For one of the candidates to win, they needed to secure the votes of 683 out of 1366 delegates.

As a result, the election proceeded to a second round, marking a first in CHP's history.

The voting for the second round started on November 5 at 00:30 and ended at 02:30 on November 5.

İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu announced the new Chairperson. (PE)