Müsavat Dervişoğlu was unopposed as the nationalist Good Party (IP), which taps into far-right potential in Türkiye, held an intra-party election on Sunday.
A 65-year-old politician who replaced the party’s founder, Meral Akşener, after the 2023 election losses, secured his second term as the IP leader with the votes of 1,180 delegates.
In his speech before the election in Ankara, Dervişoğlu, whose first name means “equality” in archaic Turkish, said the party was founded at a time of erosion of justice and equality. He presented his party as the only option to push the development of Türkiye.
The IP, formed by dissidents within the MHP, including Dervişoğlu, a former candidate to helm that party, which is now a government ally, found following amid lifelong MHP supporters disillusioned by its current chair, Devlet Bahçeli.
Yet, the support was underwhelming enough to push the party to ally with the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) in the 2023 general election. When Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, candidate of the six-party alliance including the IP, lost to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the IP began to slowly disintegrate. Further losses in the 2024 municipal elections led to the resignation of Akşener. Since the local elections, it also lost several lawmakers to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which has enjoyed a recruitment drive from other parties since the unprecedented losses in the 2024 vote.
Among other things, Dervişoğlu’s speech focuses on the terror-free Türkiye initiative launched by the MHP and endorsed by the government. He reiterated the party’s strong opposition to the initiative, although he claimed that they would not be firmly “rigid” against any “good public service by the government.” The IP is the only major opposition party not to contribute to a parliamentary committee set up to further the initiative that aims to fully disarm the terrorist group PKK.
