ANKARA (CiHAN) - The troubled leader of the opposition party Deniz Baykal attained vote of in the 12th extraordinary general congress yesterday.
The opposition Republican People`s Party`s (CHP) held its 12th extraordinary general congress in Ankara under intensive security measures agains protesters on Saturday.
Only the 1,294 members of the party`s general congress were allowed to attend yesterday`s extraordinary session. The CHP`s decision not to permit reporters and CHP supporters to follow the session was seen as an anti-democratic measure and was criticized by some members of the party.
CHP leader Deniz Baykal, who was under immense pressure to step down, attained vote of confidence from the CHP delegates by snaring 781 votes out of 1058. 781 CHP members gave vote of confidence while 14 delegates declared their non-confidence and 1 delegate remained undecided. 262 delegates did not attend the voting on the CHP leader.
Despite overwhelming vote of confidence from party delegates, prominent members of the CHP including Kemal Dervis, Fikret Ünlü and Zülfi Livaneli along with 29 other deputies did not attend the voting.
The CHP - the main opposition party in Turkey – held extraordinary general congress due to its failure in the March 28 local elections when its vote percentage dropped dramatically compared to the percentage of votes it received in the last parliamentary elections.
Dissenting voices within the CHP had demanded an extraordinary general congress following the local election failure against the wishes of party senior executives including CHP chairman Deniz Baykal.
The opposition CHP suffered a heavy defeat in the March 28 local elections, losing their main strongholds across Turkey and failing to prevent their voters from drifting to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).