Following another heavy defeat in the Nov. 1 elections, Republican People's Party (CHP) members began to harshly criticize the party's administration and Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. As CHP's İzmir deputy Mustafa Balbay, former CHP Istanbul deputy Umut Oran and Yalova deputy Muharrem İnce have announced their candidacy for the chairmanship position in the upcoming general party congress, the CHP has been receiving many attacks, including from former Istanbul CHP deputy İhsan Özkes.

Özkes stated on his personal Twitter account that "if Atatürk was alive today the first thing he would probably do is shut down the CHP, or he would die of grief rather than cirrhosis." Continuing with his criticisms on Thursday during a television program, the CHP deputy also added that the party had to clear itself of the video scandal in which CHP deputy Deniz Baykal was forced to resign from the chairmanship position.

While three CHP deputies announced their candidacy, another deputy, the vice-chairman of the CHP, Murat Özçelik, also recently resigned from the party. The CHP's Yalova deputy İnce aimed further harsh criticism at the party management. He said "a leadership that has lost six elections would not win a seventh." Along with CHP deputies, many other pro-CHP media members criticized Kılıçdaroğlu and urged him to step down from his position. Commenting on the situation, Özkes said "even if all of Turkey comes together along with those who announced their candidacy for leadership, the CHP would not be saved." Adding to his criticisms, Özkes stated that the CHP served no benefit to the country.

Commenting on the CHP's close-ties with the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), Özkes said he had resigned as he felt it was intolerable to have the HDP as a "wagon" at the back of the party. In addition to Özkes's remarks, it has been reported by Erzurum's CHP provincial organization head Tevhit Yavuz that the party faced a decrease in its number of deputies as the voter base chose to use tactical votes in efforts to aid the HDP pass the electoral threshold.