‘Alliance’ crisis in İYİ Party: More resignations may follow
Despite the change in leadership at the Republican People's Party (CHP), İYİ Party leader Meral Akşener's decision to close the door on an alliance for the local elections has sparked reactions within the party. Following a series of resignations, it is suggested that more may be on the way.
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Following the resignation of Eskişehir MP Nebi Hatipoğlu from the İYİ Party and his subsequent joining of the AKP, as well as the resignations of former İYİ Party Deputy Chairman Bahadır Erdem and former MP Durmuş Yılmaz, it is being claimed that “the crisis within the İYİ Party will deepen.”
PARTY MEMBERS ‘CANNOT MAKE SENSE’ OF AKŞENER’S STANCE
According to a report in Cumhuriyet; İYİ Party members believe that they “cannot make sense” of General Chair Meral Akşener closing the doors once again to a potential cooperation in the local elections following Özgür Özel's election as CHP General Chair, and they think “this strategy could mean handing over metropolitan cities and their districts, especially Ankara and Istanbul, back to the ruling party.” Party members state that “if Akşener continues this attitude, resignations within the party will increase.” While it is stated that “the election where the İYİ Party should prove its maturity as a party should be the 2028 presidential and parliamentary elections,” there is “concern within the party that the loss of votes in the local elections will be much greater than in the general elections.”
‘THERE ARE PROVINCES WE CAN WIN’
İYİ Party officials also oppose the “strategy of fielding another candidate against Mansur Yavaş in Ankara.” Expressing that “it is evident in all polls that Yavaş is not a stranger to the İYİ Party base and that, for this reason, the name that Ankara's İYİ Party voters will vote for once again in the local elections will be Yavaş,” İYİ Party members made the following criticisms:
“Yavaş's power over the Ankara electorate is clear. Yavaş is a name who can receive votes from both CHP voters and İYİ Party voters. Cooperation can very well be made with the CHP specifically in Ankara. The Metropolitan Municipality of Ankara could be left to the CHP, and in return, the İYİ Party could aspire to govern districts with a nationalist-conservative voter structure such as Keçiören, Etimesgut, and Polatlı. Thus, not only the metropolitan municipality but also district municipalities currently under the control of the AKP and MHP could pass into the hands of the opposition. However, when you close the doors, district mayoralties also become endangered."
‘WE WILL NOT BE AN APPARATUS’
İYİ Party Group Deputy Chairman Müsavat Dervişoğlu met with journalists in Eskişehir. Dervişoğlu said, “The İYİ Party was not founded to be an apparatus for any political party's election victory. The İYİ Party was founded to be in power.”