The Homeland Party (MP) of Muharrem Ince, a former presidential candidate who once challenged President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, dissolved during its second extraordinary congress with the decision of a majority vote, the party said Tuesday.
At the congress, 277 delegates voted; 220 voted for closure, 55 voted against closure, and two votes were invalid. These votes resulted in the party's closure.
MP Vice Chairperson Asuman Ali Güven said: “With today's congress, we have completed a legal and political process. Our delegates, provincial and district chairs, party council members, and founders voted by a large margin to shut down our party.”
The decision came after Ince announced his return to the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) last month during a meeting of the CHP’s parliamentary group, where party leader Özgür Özel welcomed him back, describing the move as a critical step toward opposition unity amid increasing political pressure from the ruling government.
Ince, 60, was the CHP’s nominee against Erdoğan in the 2018 presidential election, where he gained national prominence despite losing. He broke with the CHP in early 2021 after internal disputes and founded the MP that May, positioning it as an alternative to traditional opposition politics.
Ince’s MP failed to gain significant traction in national elections, drawing just 0.17% of the vote in the 2024 local polls. Despite stepping away from the CHP, Ince occasionally expressed support for the party, particularly in response to legal actions against its members, including Imamoğlu’s March 2024 arrest on corruption charges, which Ince publicly condemned.
Ince’s return is widely seen as part of Özel’s strategy to consolidate the opposition ahead of future elections, as the CHP seeks to build on its historic gains in the 2024 municipal races – the first time in 47 years the party emerged as Türkiye's leading political force.
