Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu is planning to change the Central Executive Board (MYK) and the Party Council (PM) in order to ease the pressure put on by intra-party opposition which has emerged since the Nov. 1 election, according to sources.
While the CHP is preparing for the General Party Congress which will be held on Jan. 15-16, the intra-party opposition lightened its criticism after failing to collect enough support for an extraordinary congress. The required 120 signatures necessary for becoming a candidate for the chairmanship is the main obstacle for the possible candidates. Thus, the key intra-opposition figures – Ümit Oran and Mustafa Balbay – who already declared their intention to run against Kılıçdaroğlu, are not expected to get enough support for the candidacy.
Nevertheless, CHP's Yalova deputy, Muharrem İnce, who recently announced his candidacy for chairmanship, is closely following the outcomes of the elections of local delegates to collect support for the Congress, sources from CHP headquarters have stated. Previously, Muharrem İnce ran against Kılıçdaroğlu to become the new chairman in the extraordinary congress held in September 2014. İnce lost against Kılıçdaroğlu by a narrow margin with 415 votes, despite being nominated as a candidate by only 177 delegates.
Furthermore, CHP sources also said that Kılıçdaroğlu is planning to renew all members of the MYK. According to the charter of the CHP, the intra-party congress and election of MYK and PM members are conducted according to the candidate list. Depending on the outcome, it is predicted that Kılıçdaroğlu will play a more effective role with delegates than other possible intra-party candidates for chairman and will dominate the list of MYK and PM candidates.
