Resignations continue in İP ahead of upcoming local elections


The opposition Good Party (İP) has been shaken once again by the resignations of its district heads in protest against the party administration as the party prepares for the March 2019 local elections. Eastern Muş province's central district head Basri Gündoğdu, Muş district administrative board member Seyithan Keser and 23 more people announced their resignations in a press briefing over the weekend.

"We identified a problem in the Muş Province Organization and send a report to İP headquarter to resolve it. Yet, we saw that the headquarters did not act in line with the report," Gündoğdu said.

Touching upon their discomfort with the reappointment of Muş Province head Ramazan Aşık, Gündoğdu said that İP's Muş candidate Erkan Kemaloğlu and Aşık failed to fulfill their responsibilities. "We hereby announce our resignations with 25 members in total including 10 people from the central district organization and 15 people from the province organization," Gündoğdu added.

Aşık, on the other hand, said that party headquarters only received letters of resignations from Gündoğdu and Keser.

Meanwhile, the İP party administration asked all province heads to resign to re-establish the party organization at the local level on Aug. 29. Following the call from the administration, many province heads resigned to allow changes to be easily implemented. However, resignations from some party organizations were part of the resignation wave that started after the June 24 elections, protesting the party administration. The İP has been in distress since its poor performance in the June 24 parliamentary and presidential elections. Dissatisfaction with the elections and İP member's uneasiness over their positions in the candidate lists stoked tensions in the party. Many members, including key founding members, presented their resignations to the party administration in protest. Failing to manage the unraveling, party leader Meral Akşener called for an extraordinary convention and announced her resignation following the meetings in the central province of Afyonkarahisar in late July. Although Akşener previously decided to step down in the face of mounting pressure on her, some party officials persuaded her to continue in the post.