Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu will reportedly change half of the Central Executive Board's (MYK) members after his controversial re-election at a party convention last weekend.
According to speculation in Turkish media, the CHP will go through a reshuffle as recently re-elected Kılıçdaroğlu is expected to change half the MYK's members. He is poised to appoint names to key posts, with whom he will run for the 2019 elections. The period for the 2019 elections will begin next February.
Kılıçdaroğlu is also rumored to create three new posts in the MYK. These new three posts are expected to be deputy chairman in charge of the CHP party academy, deputy chairman in charge of media and propaganda and deputy chairman in charge of research and development.
Reports in the media claim that five people may retain their posts, including Seyit Torun, who is responsible for local administrations, Haluk Koç, Tekin Bingöl, Bülent Tezcan and Lale Karabıyık.
On the other hand, the next CHP secretary general is expected to be either Gökhan Günaydın or Hakkı Süha Okay.
Meanwhile, CHP dissident Muharrem İnce continues to bemoan the controversial CHP convention that was held last week. Contending that there was injustice at the convention against him and his fellow party members, İnce said on his official Twitter account that CHP bylaws were disregarded. "There was injustice against me and my fellow party members at this convention. It was unjust, unfair, illegal [and] CHP bylaws, which are the constitution of the CHP, were disregarded. … We will continue to struggle together to regain our future," İnce said.
Verbal clashes broke out at the convention after it was claimed that more than 40 delegates voted both for Kılıçdaroğlu and İnce, which put the latter's candidacy at risk. In total, 790 delegates voted for Kılıçdaroğlu, while İnce received 447 votes.
A total of 1,253 delegates out of 1,266 cast their votes. CHP officials said that Kılıçdaroğlu wanted the 49 signatures counted for İnce, while İnce, who criticized the nomination process prior to the congress and during his speech at the congress, responded by saying the CHP administration is trying to undermine his support by the argument. İnce asserted that he does not need anybody's charity.
İnce previously railed at Kılıçdaroğlu as well, saying: "Will you bring freedom to Turkey with this order of fear that you set up within the party?" He added that Kılıçdaroğlu failed to garner the votes of the 291 delegates that had signed for him to be a candidate.
The staunch dissident has also recently been speculated to be making efforts to turn the CHP convention set for June into a convention with elections. Prior to last weekend's convention, İnce ran against Kılıçdaroğlu in 2014, as well. In the 2014 convention, 740 delegates voted for Kılıçdaroğlu, while İnce was backed by 415 delegates.
