Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu aspires to cement his place in the Republican People’s Party (CHP), which was downgraded from its main opposition status. The former chair, who was reinstated to the post last May by a court verdict, will convene the central administrative board and party assembly on Wednesday, focusing on a road map for the future of the party. The CHP fell behind in the number of parliamentary seats after Kılıçdaroğlu’s predecessor, Özgür Özel, founded the New Party (YP) with lawmakers transferred from the CHP.
The Central Administrative Board meeting will discuss a timetable for the party’s next convention and set the dates for provincial and district congresses, ahead of the September launch of the process leading up to the next election. Kılıçdaroğlu is so far uncontested, as Özel, who repeatedly called on him to hold an extraordinary congress, gave up and went on to establish the YP.
In the meantime, Kılıçdaroğlu pursues redemption and reckoning. At the party assembly meeting, the CHP will discuss increasing the number of provincial and district board members and pardoning some members facing disciplinary proceedings or expulsion, according to a report by Anadolu Agency (AA). Kılıçdaroğlu has pledged to “cleanse” the party of corruption linked to mayors and other top figures and has launched an expulsion process for many loyalists of Özel who were entangled in corruption investigations.
