A former İstanbul deputy from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has called for an extraordinary party congress to elect a new leader due to the party's failure in Nov.1 elections, at the same time announcing his candidacy for chairperson of the CHP.
The CHP receiving less votes than anticipated in Sunday's snap elections sparked debate on the need for the resignation of party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. CHP Secretary-General Gürsel Tekin made a statement on the issue, ruling out Kılıçdaroğlu resigning and saying that CHP members who seek to run for the chairmanship can declare their candidacy at the party congress, which is to be held next February.
In a written statement on Wednesday, Umut Oran said the only criterion of success to come to power, and called on Kılıçdaroğlu to summon the party congress.
“The CHP is not desperate and lacking an alternative. The CHP is not hopeless and without a solution. I am ready to assume any kind of task and responsibility in order for the CHP to form a single-party government,” Oran said.
The party only slightly increased its votes in the Nov. 1 election, after expecting to get up to 30 percent of the vote and therefore leaving it highly disappointed. The CHP got 25.3 percent of the votes in the general election, up from 24.9 in the June 7 election. The party, which won 132 seats in Parliament in June, will now be represented by 134 deputies.
The election result is a big disappointment for the main opposition party. Kılıçdaroğlu said in a press statement late on election night that the result put further responsibility on the party's shoulders.
In a previous congress in September of last year, Muharrem İnce unsuccessfully ran against Kılıçdaroğlu for party chairmanship, but still got many more votes than expected.
İnce received a surprising 415 votes in the vote for party chair, although prior to the congress he was nominated as a candidate by only 177 delegates.
Fuente: http://www.todayszaman.com/latest-news_chps-oran-calls-for-party-congres...
