06 August 2018•Update: 07 August 2018
By Diyar Guldogan
ANKARA
Dissidents at Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) failed to garner the support they need to hold an emergency convention of the party to challenge the leadership of their current chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
A total of 569 delegates out of an overall 1,242 signatures submitted to hold a convention in a bid to replace Kilicdaroglu, the party said in a statement, more than 50 signatures short of the required number.
According to party bylaws, 50 percent plus 1 signatures from party representatives must be collected for the emergency congress to take place.
The CHP's "Change and Hope Congress" is expected to discuss the replacement of Kilicdaroglu by none other than the party’s former presidential candidate, Muharrem Ince.
The move comes after opposition figures in the party called for an emergency congress following the party's defeat in the June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections.
Meanwhile, the dissidents said in a statement that "sufficient number of signatures" had been delivered to the party headquarters.
"Despite this, in order not to hold an emergency congress, they played with the numbers," the statement read.
It added new politics and a new opposition in Turkey were needed "more than ever".
