Chairman of the main opposition the Republican People's Party (CHP) has reiterated that dissidents within the party will be expelled. Speaking live on TV Wednesday night, Kılıçdaroğlu said no individual can be more important than the party. "I will have anyone put outside the door if they try to eat through the party," he declared. Earlier on Tuesday, speaking at the party's regular parliamentary group meeting, Kılıçdaroğlu had said he would expel dissidents within the CHP. "Intraparty struggles, battles… I will not allow any intraparty fights. If need be, I will have the ones fighting thrown out the door," he said.
Meanwhile, Turkish media reports have claimed that a group of dissidents within the CHP were demanding an extraordinary congress after Kılıçdaroğlu lost eight successive elections and referendums in seven years.
Commenting on the April 16 constitutional referendum results, Kılıçdaroğlu said the party will file a legal lawsuit against members of the Supreme Election Board (YSK), claiming they had "openly violated laws."
On April 16, the YSK had decided to accept unstamped ballot papers used in the constitutional referendum as valid. The YSK later rejected a CHP petition calling for the annulment of referendum results, citing a lack of evidence in documents submitted by the CHP administration.
Following the appeal, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ said earlier precedents show that the CHP, during the 2015 elections, had requested the YSK to accept unstamped ballots as valid, and should, therefore, respect the board's decision now.
He also noted that the YSK made its final decision based on previous rulings, which respected the will of the people.
In an interview with Daily Sabah after the referendum, Bozdağ said: "Ballot box committees made a mistake in 2015, just like in the April 16 referendum, and didn't stamp envelopes. Back then, the CHP filed a petition to render the unstamped envelopes valid. While the district election board wanted to count these ballots as invalid, the CHP opposed it. Their objection was considered by the board, and unstamped envelopes were added to the count."
On President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's return to the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Kılıçdaroğlu said the chairman of a political party should not become the president. Asked about whether he would run for the president's office in 2019, Kılıçdaroğlu said, the CHP "does not want a president from a political party."
Deniz Baykal, a CHP veteran, recently said he would be by Kılıçdaroğlu's side if he decides to be a candidate in the 2019 presidential race.
Commenting on Baykal's remarks, Kılıçdaroğlu said that he respects his statement. "However, we have boards that make us different from other parties. These boards will discuss the likely presidential candidate," he said.
