2016 Nationalist Movement Party Extraordinary Congress

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Nationalist Movement Party Extraordinary Congress, 2016
← 2015 19 June 2016 (2016-06-19)[1] (annulled) 2018 →
Registered1,211 delegates[2]
 
Candidate Devlet Bahçeli Meral Akşener Sinan Oğan
Party MHP MHP MHP
 
Candidate Ümit Özdağ Koray Aydın Süleyman Servet Sazak
Party MHP MHP MHP
 
Candidate Selim Kaptanoğlu
Party MHP
Leader before election

Devlet Bahçeli
MHP

Elected Leader

None elected

The 2016 Nationalist Movement Party Extraordinary Congresses referred to two party conventions of the Turkish

Supreme Electoral Council (YSK).[3] The congress was eventually not held, prompting the dissidents to resign and join forces under a new party, namely the Good Party
.

The congress was called for by several inner-party critics of the MHP's current leader Devlet Bahçeli, who had led the party to a heavy defeat in the November 2015 general election. However, since the party constitution did not allow leadership elections at any congress other than the routine ordinary congresses (the next due to take place in 2018), a 'constitutional congress' was required before a leadership vote to amend the constitution and allow an earlier vote to take place. It was therefore expected that the congress due to be held on 15 May would be the first of two MHP party congresses held in the year 2016, the latter featuring a leadership election should constitutional amendments be successful.

Background

Coalition process

The MHP, having been projected to win over many disaffected voters from the governing

June–July 2015 Parliament Speaker election
to the AKP candidate by abstaining. Fresh elections were called for November 2015 after all government formation attempts failed.

November 2015 election

In the November 2015 general election, the MHP suffered a heavy defeat and halved its parliamentary representation, winning 11.9% of the vote and falling behind the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in terms of seats to become the smallest party in Parliament with just 40 MPs. Bahçeli subsequently came under heavy fire for the poor election result, with prominent party members such as Meral Akşener and Sinan Oğan openly declaring their candidacy to succeed Bahçeli. Bahçeli subsequently ruled out any prospect of a resignation and declared that the next leadership election would be held as expected in 2018, three years after the previous Ordinary Congress in March 2015. His decision was unable to quell further unrest within the party, with several provincial and district party associations declaring their support for opposing candidates. the party leadership clamped down on dissident party associations by abolishing them and setting up new ones in their place headed by more loyal party members. In the meantime, Ümit Özdağ and Koray Aydın declared their candidacies.

Signatures for an Extraordinary Congress

Under the leadership of opposing candidates, delegates critical Bahçeli began collecting signatures to force an Extraordinary Congress. On 15 January 2016, Akşener announced that she had successfully collected over 400 signatures, enough to call a congress.[4] The party leadership staunchly rejected demands for an Extraordinary Congress, resulting in party opposition leaders submitting the signature lists to court.[5] On 19 April, the courts accepted the opposition's call for an Extraordinary Congress.[6] the MHP leadership respected the legal outcome, but stated that they would appeal and not recognise the decision.[7] Following a legal appeal, the courts decided to delay the congress indefinitely while they reviewed the case on 29 April.[8] On 6 May, the courts rejected the MHP leadership's appeal and declared that the congress should go ahead on 15 May.[9]

Legal challenges

On 13 May, two days before the proposed congress, the appeals from the opposition were accepted by an Ankara court. However at the same time, a court in the

Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), accusing the judge of ruling on a case that was beyond the remit of a district court.[11] Although the party opposition declared their intention to hold the congress on Sunday since all legal challenges had been lifted, lawyers at the party's headquarters declared that it would not be legally possible and that the police should stop any attempts by the opposition to do so.[12] Later on the same day, the Ankara court upheld the Germenek court ruling, again putting the congress on hold.[13] One of the leadership candidates, Ümit Özdağ, claimed that the attempts to stop the congress had been initiated by the Minister of Justice.[14]

First Congress

The 19 June extraordinary congress

Following the final decision for the Court of Cassation declaring that the congress should go ahead, the MHP national executive declared that the congress would be held on 26 June or 10 July, with Bahçeli standing as a candidate. However, the inner-party opposition declared that the MHP constitution at the time did not allow a leadership election to be held apart from during the routine ordinary congresses every three years, leading to speculation that the MHP executive were planning to hold the congress and then nullifying the result through court order. The inner-party opposition also argued that the date of the congress would be determined by the judicially appointed invitation committee, not the executive, while the executive argued that such a congress would be unconstitutional since it wasn't held in central Ankara and would require members of the ruling executive to officially be declared valid.

The first Congress of 2016 was held on 19 June 2016 as announced by the invitation committee at the Anatolia Hotel Esenboğa Auditorium in Ankara, starting at 10am.[15] Then incumbent party executives and 38 out of 40 MHP PMs boycotted the Congress, Devlet Bahçeli did not attend the event. The opposition declared 752 delegates attended the congress, but Bahçeli's team announced the attendance is much lower, and the Congress did not meet the delegate threshold. The notary officially announced the attendance as 662, making the Congress valid. After the Congress, the opposition successfully changes 13 out of 14 articles of party constitution, allowing party leader elections during extraordinary congress and preventing party bans after June 5, 2016. The second Congress is planned for 10 July 2016, the same date as Bahçeli's announcement.[16] Three days after the Congress, MHP parliamentary group leader Oktay Vural resigned.[17]

The congress was heavily criticised by one of the leadership candidates, Süleyman Servet Sazak, for revolving almost entirely around the frontrunner Meral Akşener, with the other candidates not having any input in the proposed constitutional changes.[18]

Potential candidates

Although it is not clear if the Congress has authority to elect a new leader, several people publicly disclosed their candidacy.

References

  1. ^
    NTV (Turkey)
    . Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  2. ^ "Devlet Bahçeli'yi zora sokan tablo!" (in Turkish). Sözcü. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  3. ^ "YSK kararını verdi: MHP'de 10 Temmuz'da kongre yapılamaz" (in Turkish). Diken. 28 June 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  4. ^ "MHP'de kurultay için yeterli imza toplandı - AjansHaber.com". Archived from the original on 2016-04-23. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  5. ^ "Bahçeli'den ilk açıklama: Hiç kimse olağanüstü kongre beklemesin".
  6. ^ "MHP'de olağanüstü kongre 15 Mayıs'ta yapılacak".
  7. ^ "MHP Genel Merkezi '15 Mayıs'ta kongre' kararını tanımadı". 19 April 2016.
  8. ^ "MHP'de kongre sürecine yürütmeyi durdurma kararı!".
  9. ^ "Kulisleri hareketlendiren iddia: Yargıtay kararını verdi: MHP kongreye gidiyor".
  10. ^ "Gemerek Mahkemesi'nden flaş karar | GAZETE VATAN". www.gazetevatan.com.
  11. ^ "Akşener Gemerek Hakimini HSYK'ya şikayet etti". 3 May 2016.
  12. ^ "MHP'den Beklenen Açıklama Geldi". www.kanalben.com.
  13. ^ "25. İcra Dairesi'nden MHP Kurultayıyla İlgili Yeni Karar". 13 May 2016.
  14. ^ "MHP'de Kongre Bilmecesi Kurultay Yapılacak mı Yapılmayacak mı - Son Dakika". Sondakika.com.
  15. ^ "Meral Akşener : Olağanüstü Kongremiz, Ankara Anadolu Otel Esenboğa kongre salonunda yapılacaktır".
  16. ^ "MHP'de "Tüzük Devrimi" Yapıldı" (in Turkish). Voice of America Turkey. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  17. ^ "Oktay Vural neden istifa ettiğini açıkladı" (in Turkish). Haber Türk. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  18. ^ "MHP Genel Başkan Adayı Süleyman Servet Sazak Açıklaması". 23 June 2016.
  19. ^ "Sinan Oğan MHP genel başkanlığına aday" (in Turkish). Posta. Archived from the original on 24 January 2016. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  20. ^ "Koray Aydın adaylığını açıkladı" (in Turkish). Al Jazeera Turkey. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  21. ^ "Ümit Özdağ resmen MHP Genel Başkan adayı" (in Turkish). Sözcü. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  22. ^ "Süleyman Servet Sazak MHP Genel Başkanlığı'na aday" (in Turkish). CNN Türk. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  23. ^ "Selim Kaptanoğlu MHP Genel Başkanlığı için adaylığını resmen açıkladı" (in Turkish). Sözcü. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
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