12th Nationalist Movement Party Ordinary Congress

The 12th Nationalist Movement Party Ordinary Congress (Turkish: 12. Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi Olağan Kongresi) was a political party convention held by the Turkish right-wing Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) on 18 March 2018. The Congress resulted in the re-election of Devlet Bahçeli as party leader, having been the only candidate.

Nationalist Movement Party Ordinary Congress, 2018

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Turnout96.9%
 
Candidate Devlet Bahçeli
Party MHP
Constituency Osmaniye
Popular vote 1,167
Percentage 100%

Leader before election

Devlet Bahçeli
MHP

Elected Leader

Devlet Bahçeli
MHP

Background

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Inner-party split

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Following the November 2015 general election, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli had faced several calls for his resignation after his poor election results. The dissidents, consisting predominantly of Meral Akşener Ümit Özdağ, Yusuf Halaçoğlu and Koray Aydın, began collecting delegate signatures to change the MHP constitution and allow for leadership challenges.[1] A constitutional congress was held by the dissidents on 19 June 2016, with the changes being approved by delegates, although the congress was not recognised by the MHP executive and was eventually annulled by the courts.[2] The dissidents were later suspended from the MHP by the party disciplinary committee.[3] The MHP lost further support following Bahçeli's declaration of support for a 'yes' vote in the 2017 constitutional referendum, with the dissidents openly campaigning for a 'No' vote and arguably carrying most of the Turkish nationalist vote with them.[4]

People's Alliance with the AKP

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With the dissidents forming a new, centrist party (namely the Good Party) under the leadership of Akşener, the MHP announced that it would support the re-election of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in forthcoming presidential elections and seek to form an electoral alliance with Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AKP).[5][6] The People's Alliance between the two parties was later launched in February 2018.[7] On 18 April, Erdoğan called early parliamentary and presidential elections for 24 June 2018 after a call from Bahçeli to have them brought forward from their original date of 3 November 2019.[8]

Leadership election

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Party leader and only leadership candidate Devlet Bahçeli speaking at the party's 12th ordinary congress

Candidates

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Only Bahçeli put his name forward for the leadership, receiving 1,176 signatures from 1,207 delegates.[9]

Results

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Candidate Votes %
Devlet Bahçeli 1,167 100.0
Invalid/blank votes 2
Total 1,169 100.0
Number of delegates/turnout 1,207 96.9
Source: NTV

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "MHP olağanüstü tüzük kurultayı sona erdi, değişiklik önergeleri kabul edildi - BBC News Türkçe". bbc.com. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  2. ^ "SON DAKİKA - YSK: MHP 10 Temmuz'da kurultay yapamaz - Son Dakika Haberler". haberturk.com. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  3. ^ "Meral Akşener ihraç edildi - Son Dakika Haberler". hurriyet.com.tr. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  4. ^ "MHP 'evet' dese bile MHP'li 'hayır' diyecek - Son Dakika Haberleri". sozcu.com.tr. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  5. ^ "İYİ Parti kuruldu! Meral Akşener'in İYİ Parti'nin açılımı ne? İYİ ne demek işte Kayı Boyu bağlantısı detayı... - Son Dakika Haberleri". sozcu.com.tr. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  6. ^ "Bahçeli: MHP, cumhurbaşkanı adayı olarak Erdoğan'ı destekleyecek - Son Dakika Haberler". hurriyet.com.tr. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  7. ^ "Cumhur İttifakı resmileşti". ensonhaber.com. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  8. ^ "Devlet Bahçeli erken seçim çağrısı yaptı o tarihi işaret etti. Erken seçim yapılacak mı? - Son Dakika Haberler". hurriyet.com.tr. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  9. ^ "MHP'de Devlet Bahçeli yeniden Genel Başkan seçildi". NTV. Retrieved 2018-06-03.