The deputy chair of the Republican People's Party (CHP), Türkiye’s main opposition party and home of presidential runner Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, on Monday, announced his resignation following a poor performance from both Kılıçdaroğlu and lawmaker candidates in Sunday’s elections, despite claims that Kılıçdaroğlu was the one who sacked him.
“In order not to harm the election process, our chairperson and presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, with whom I have been honored to walk side by side, I am resigning from my post as the deputy chair of CHP’s information and communication technologies department due to negative public opinion,” Onursal Adıgüzel said in a tweet.
This, he added, was “in spite of the fact that our systems worked and sustained no technical malfunctions on the night of the elections.”
His announcement came hours after the Supreme Election Council (YSK) confirmed Türkiye would head to the first election runoff in its history on May 28 since no candidate secured the required majority in presidential polls.
With all ballot boxes in Türkiye and from overseas opened, the council informed that incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won 49.51% while Kılıçdaroğlu of the six-party opposition alliance clinched 44.88% of the vote, way ahead of Sinan Oğan, a third minor candidate running for the ATA Alliance, with 5.17%.
Other local reports, however, said, Adıgüzel was forced to resign after droves of CHP supporters blamed him for “incompetence” during vote counting.
Opposition newspaper Sözcü said Kılıçdaroğlu himself “relieved him of his duty” the same day.
On the night of May 14, CHP’s Istanbul and Ankara Mayors Ekrem Imamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş, key figures who would become vice presidents if the opposition were to win, made manipulative statements to try and raise the perception among CHP voters that news agencies were reporting incorrect data. It pushed CHP supporters to target Adıgüzel for failing to manage data flow and broadcast live election results.
Before he was let go, Adıgüzel defended himself against criticism, claiming via Twitter that the CHP “has never guaranteed a live election result display that would be open to all.”
Adıgüzel, who had been with the CHP since they lost the 2018 elections, was also in charge of the party’s troll network on social media, leading organized campaigns to spread lies, misinformation and provocations.
He is credited with using what they called a “capillary vessel system,” which can be described as an army of trolls consisting of CHP members and volunteering participants mobilized over chat groups on Telegram.
The opposition has been scrambling to reorganize its ranks after Sunday’s defeat. The six parties also lost the Parliamentary majority to the governing Justice and Development Party-led (AK Party) People's Alliance which walked with 49.46% of the vote, translating to about 322 lawmaker seats.
While Erdoğan is internationally recognized as a clear favorite in the second round, Kılıçdaroğlu is looking to unveil a new strategy in his uphill battle.
