Behind the scenes: Erdoğan to make significant changes to party leadership
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) 4th Extraordinary Congress will convene tomorrow at the Ankara Sports Hall. AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is the sole candidate for party chairman, will determine his new team to lead the party into the local elections.
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The AKP will determine its new leadership at its 4th Extraordinary Congress, which will take place tomorrow at the Ankara Sports Hall.
According to a report by Ayşe Sayın from BBC Türkçe, the new team that will lead the party into the local elections will be determined at the congress, where AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is the sole candidate for party chairman. At the congress, the members of the AKP's 75-member Central Decision and Administrative Board (MKYK) and the Central Disciplinary Board will be determined.
SIGNIFICANT CHANGE EXPECTED WITHIN THE PARTY
Erdoğan, who has been continuing his efforts to determine the new party leadership since the beginning of the week, is expected to make significant changes to the party administration following those made to the Turkish Grand National Assembly and the cabinet. According to AKP insiders, Erdoğan will maintain a balance between "experience" and "youth and women" in the new party leadership.
The new party leadership that Erdoğan will determine through the extraordinary congress is seen as the third phase of the change process within the party. Shortly after the May 28 elections, in which he was elected president for the third time—including two terms under the presidential government system—Erdoğan had instructed the party leadership to begin local election preparations and subsequently decided to hold an extraordinary congress.
Behind this decision by Erdoğan lies a desire to complete the comprehensive changes made in parliament and the cabinet with the party leadership. In the AKP, where the three-term rule was applied in the parliamentary general elections, the rate of change in parliament reached 65 percent.