CHP's primary election calendar is set! What are the conditions for presidential candidacy?

The Republican People's Party (CHP) has decided to determine its presidential candidate through a primary election.

While Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu supports the primary, Ankara Metropolitan Municipality (ABB) Mayor Mansur Yavaş argued that the country's real agenda is the economy and that it is too early to determine a candidate.

Following these statements expressing different views, CHP Chairman Özgür Özel met with IMM Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and ABB Mayor Mansur Yavaş. At the 3-way summit, ABB Mayor Yavaş informed Özel that he would not participate in the primary.

All eyes in the CHP are now turned to the primary election on March 23.

CHP Deputy Chairman Gül Çiftci Binici stated that the primary election calendar to determine her party's presidential candidate has been set and announced the conditions for candidates who wish to apply.

Binici's statement on the matter is as follows: 

"We are going through a period of oppression where justice and judicial independence have been destroyed, the popular will is directly targeted through operations against elected mayors, the constitution has been shelved, young people are losing hope every day, and millions of workers are condemned to a minimum wage below the hunger threshold. The jet-speed investigations into our mayors, the indictments aimed at silencing the voice of the youth, and all the steps taken to intimidate the public stand before us as products of AKP darkness.

We believe that we can only emerge from this darkness by growing the will of our people and bringing the early election ballot box before our people as soon as possible. As a requirement of our demand for an early election; one of the most important steps of this process, which we can summarize as election, power, and democracy again, is the primary election calendar under organizational supervision for the presidential candidacy we are currently in."

"WE ARE AT A NEW THRESHOLD"

"We are now at a new threshold in the process of determining the Republican People's Party's presidential candidate through a primary election under organizational supervision, which our Chairman Mr. Özgür Özel announced on January 28. In our group meeting on Tuesday, our Chairman announced that the decision for a primary election under organizational supervision had been taken by our party's authorized bodies, the election directive had been accepted, and the election calendar had begun. Before I start informing you about the election directive and the election calendar, it is necessary to underline two important points once again."

"A 40-FOLD INCREASE IN MEMBERSHIP"

"Firstly; I would like to remind you once again that our membership campaign is ongoing, and all our citizens who come to our party, our father's hearth, until 17.00 on Friday, February 28, will be able to vote in the primary election under organizational supervision that we will hold on March 23 to determine the presidential candidate. Since the day our Chairman made the call, that is, since January 28, we have experienced a 40-fold daily increase in membership compared to before the campaign.

We invite all our citizens who want to be not just witnesses but also subjects of this period to become members of our party to vote in the primary, which we see as a very, very important step for a new future where democracy and freedoms will prevail, which all our citizens in our country long for. Another point I would like to underline is about the content of the primary election under organizational supervision. We have read various questions and comments about this in some media outlets. We have provided the necessary information, but I find it useful to repeat it through you. The authority to determine the presidential candidate is clearly stated in Article 54 of our charter.

The primary election under organizational supervision is a reflection of the understanding of the participation principle and the inclusion of all our members in the political decision-making process, which is one of the methods specified in our charter for determining the presidential candidate, namely the central polling method. The situation that we can describe as nominating and presenting a presidential candidate has been determined within the framework of the laws. The process we are carrying out with the primary election under organizational supervision is the sharing of the right of the Republican People's Party Central Executive Board to make a proposal to our Parliamentary Group, that is, this will, by the Central Executive Board with our 1.6 million members. After making these two clarifications, I would like to share with you the details of the Presidential Candidacy Primary Election Directive Under Organizational Supervision we have prepared, and then the election calendar."

"IT WILL BE HELD UNDER SUPERVISION"

Our directive determines the procedures and principles of the primary election under organizational supervision to be held in determining our presidential candidate. The decision for the primary election under organizational supervision has already been determined by our Party Assembly, and the calendar and voting date by our Central Executive Board.

The primary election will be held under the supervision of the organization and under the supervision and control of the central board to be established at our Headquarters, the provincial board in the provinces, and the district board in each district. Supervision and control will be carried out by these boards in accordance with the principles of secret ballot, open counting, and tabulation, including the representatives and observers of the candidates, and covering all complaint and objection processes of the election laws.

"DISTRICT BOARDS WILL CONSIST OF FIVE MEMBERS"

The district boards to be established for the primary election under organizational supervision will consist of five members, including our district chairman as the chairman, one member to be determined by the provincial and district executive boards, and one member to be reported by our district women's and youth branches. Similarly, the five-person provincial boards are boards where our provincial chairmen are the deputy chairmen of the board, the board chairman is our Party Assembly Member or Member of Parliament, and the remaining three members are determined by our Central Executive Board. The Central Executive Board will determine three (3) members from among the members registered in the provincial electoral district; one from the women's branches and one from the youth branches.

The election board chairmanship at our headquarters will consist of a total of five members, chaired by the Deputy Chairman responsible for Election and Party Legal Affairs, with two members determined by our Chairman from among our TBMM members and two from among our Party Assembly members. All our party members who are determined by the Central Executive Board, that is, who are members until the end of working hours on February 28, 2025, will be able to participate and vote in the primary election under organizational supervision.

WHAT ARE THE CONDITIONS?

Those who meet the candidacy conditions in the Presidential Election Law;

Those who have completed the age of 40, have completed higher education, and possess the eligibility to be elected in the Parliamentary Election Law;  

They will be able to apply with the signatures of at least twenty (20) members of our Grand National Assembly of Turkey Group. One of our members of parliament will be able to sign for more than one candidate.  

The voter lists prepared by our General Secretariat will be suspended for three days, seven days before the voting day, and objections to the suspended lists will be examined and decided by the central board. Our members who want to vote in their place of residence change or their second residence will carry out their transactions by making the necessary notification during this period.

Ballot papers and ballot envelopes bearing the General Secretariat seal and other voting tools will be prepared by our Headquarters and sent to our district chairmanships.

The number of members to vote in one ballot box has been set at six hundred (600). The number of ballot boxes and voting places will be determined by our district chairmanships and reported to our Headquarters, and then this information will be announced by the central board. Ballot box committees will consist of one chairman and one member determined by our district chairmanships, and the remaining one member will consist of three people determined by the drawing of lots from among the names reported by the candidates. Candidates will have the right to have observers at the ballot boxes.

Votes will be cast secretly with official identification documents, counting and tabulation will be done openly, and ballot box result reports and ballot bags locked with plastic seals will be delivered to the district chairmanships. The district boards will prepare the district consolidation report and deliver it to the provincial boards immediately.

The consolidation reports coming from the provincial boards will also be consolidated by the central board and the general results will be calculated. A copy of all reports will be given to the candidates, their representatives, or observers who request them. Candidates, their representatives, or observers will be able to object in all processes, starting from the ballot box committee work and procedures. Objections will be decided definitively by the central board.

HOW WILL THE CALENDAR WORK?

Our election calendar, which covers a total period of 41 days from the announcement to the voting day, following the acceptance of our directive and then announced by our Chairman and which we will now share in its entirety with you, is as follows in its main lines:

- Friday, February 14: Announcement of the Presidential Candidacy Primary Election Directive Under Organizational Supervision and Election Calendar,

- Monday, February 17: Start of presidential candidacy applications and formation of election boards,

- Tuesday, February 18: Start of work on determining the number of ballot boxes, the number of voters in the ballot boxes, and ballot box areas,

- Friday, February 21: Last day for the completion of presidential candidacy applications and election boards,

- Saturday, February 22: Evaluation of presidential candidates by our Central Executive Board and drawing of lots to determine the places of candidates on the ballot paper,

- Monday, February 24: Start of printing of ballot papers to be used in the primary election,

- Friday, February 28: Last day for applications of members who can vote in the primary election,

- Monday, March 3: Start of printing of voter lists regarding members who can vote,

- Thursday, March 13: Sending of completed voter lists to district chairmanships,

- Friday, March 14: Start of sending completed ballot papers to district chairmanships,

- Sunday, March 16: Suspension of voter lists by our district chairmanships and announcement of ballot box numbers and voting places by the central board,  

- Tuesday, March 18: Removal of voter lists from suspension,

- Thursday, March 20: Drawing of lots among the names reported by candidates or their representatives for ballot box committee membership and completion of ballot box committee formations.

- Friday, March 21: Evaluation and decision on objections to voter lists.

- Sunday, March 23: Planned as the voting day in approximately 4 thousand ballot boxes in Turkey.

"The 4 days after the voting day are arranged for objections to the district, provincial, and central boards, and Thursday, March 27, has been announced as the last day for all objections to be decided. Our election directive and election calendar are in this form in their main lines. Besides all these; we will hold a primary election where we will gift a very important gain to Turkey's democratic life and give a new meaning to participation in decision-making processes in our country. By sharing the entire process transparently with both you and our citizens, we will have shown, together with our 1.6 million members, how an election that will give life to democracy, which has been destroyed step by step by the government for years, will be held.

From here, I once again invite all our citizens, young people, women, workers, retirees, in short, all our citizens who want to vote in the primary election under organizational supervision, who want to determine the presidential candidate, even the 13th President of the Republic of Turkey, to become members of the Republican People's Party, to shoulder this struggle, and I thank you."

News Source: 12punto