Convention day at İYİ Party: Surprise offer to Mehmet Tolga Akalın from Koray Aydın and Müsavat Dervişoğlu!

The İYİ Party, which decided to enter the local elections as 'free and independent,' did not receive the results it expected from the ballot box on the evening of March 31.

Receiving 3.77 percent of the vote, the İYİ Party fell to the position of the sixth-largest party across Turkey. Chair Meral Akşener decided to hold a convention and announced that she would not be a candidate.

In the political agenda, all eyes are on the İYİ Party's 5th Extraordinary Convention today.

The convention, which will take place at the Ankara Chamber of Commerce Congress Center, is expected to be chaired by Corporate Relations Chair Şükrü Kuleyin.

At the convention, where Group Chair Koray Aydın, Group Deputy Chair Müsavat Dervişoğlu, Migration Policies Chair Tolga Akalın, and Founders' Board Member Günay Kodaz will be candidates for the party leadership, 1,300 delegates will cast their votes to elect both their leader and authorized bodies.

According to the party bylaws, an absolute majority is required in the first two rounds of the leadership election. Accordingly, the candidate who receives one more than half of the votes of the approximately 1,300 delegates will be elected chair. Following the leadership election at the convention, the authorized bodies will also be determined. In this context, delegates will determine 75 General Administrative Board (GİK) members, including 25 alternates, and 18 Central Disciplinary Board members, including 7 alternates. The speaking order of the candidates will be determined by drawing lots.

SECOND ROUND NEGOTIATIONS 

According to the report by Cumhuriyet, İYİ Party sources predict that the election will go to a third round. While it is claimed that candidate Tolga Akalın will receive more votes than expected, there is speculation that Akalın could play a decisive role in the outcome of the election in the second round. It is stated that Aydın and Dervişoğlu have established contact with Akalın due to the possibility of a second round. The candidates are expected to offer Akalın the position of organization chair.

FAREWELL SPEECH FROM AKŞENER

Furthermore, it is also being discussed that Akşener will deliver an emotional farewell speech at the convention. Many İYİ Party members suggest that Akşener could return, or that even if she does not, she will maintain her influence within the party. It is also being discussed that if Dervişoğlu, who is allegedly supported by Akşener, is elected, the issue of Akşener's "shadow candidacy" will come to the agenda. Before the convention, statements of support for candidates and critical remarks followed one another. Another statement came from Osman Ertürk Özel, a member of the İYİ Party Founders' Board and the founding general chair of the party's youth branches. Özel announced his support for Koray Aydın.