One of the founding members of the far-right Good Party (İP) submitted his resignation Tuesday, just days after the party's failure in local elections.
Ümit Özdağ told Anadolu Agency (AA) yesterday that he resigned from the party executive board but underscored that he will continue to be in the party and carry out his party-related activities.
Özdağ was reported to be accompanied by İP Deputy Chairman Koray Aydın by various media outlets. However, Aydın denied such claims on his official social media account.
"All the news and comments claiming that I resigned from the deputy chairmanship position in the İP is incorrect. I am still in the same position," Aydın said.
In Sunday's local elections, the İP lost in all 22 provinces they entered with their own candidates. The party received 7.45 percent of the votes nationwide and finished third, compared to its fifth position with 9.96 percent of the votes. However, while the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) won 156 municipalities in total with a 7.31 percent share of the votes, the İP only won 18. Many pundits highlighted that the İP was tricked into alliance talks with the CHP as it was left with provinces with a low chance of winning in line with the negotiations, considering the results of the June 24, 2018 elections.
The İP has also been in distress since its poor performance in the June 24 elections. Dissatisfaction with the elections and İP members' uneasiness over their positions on candidate lists stoked tension in the party. Many members, including key founding members, resigned while protesting the party's policies and blaming the party's chairman, Meral Akşener, for the party's poor performance in elections and discontentment with her unilateral decisions for candidate lists.
