Özgür Özel: If Haluk Levent had said 'yes', we would have included him in the poll

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel explained his party's vote target for the local elections, responded to criticisms regarding candidate preferences, and answered questions about the 'Urban Consensus' with the DEM Party.

Here are the highlights from Özel's evaluations during his appearance on the Tv100 broadcast:

WE ARE FINISHING THE UNFINISHED BUSINESS IN BURSA

The field in Bursa is very good; we are finishing the unfinished business. In the last election, we lost a race we started from far behind by a very small margin. We lost by a few percentage points. Mustafa Bozbey has naturally been working for some time. Bozbey worked, and we stood behind him. Bozbey also held a successful launch today. The organization is also motivated; there don't seem to be any problems in Bursa.

WE HAVE GIVEN OUR SELF-CRITICISM REGARDING THE SECRET PROTOCOL

We have already given our self-criticism on behalf of the party regarding the secret protocol.

I CONSIDER EXCEEDING 30 PERCENT IMPORTANT

There is a 25 percent glass ceiling over us. I consider exceeding 30 percent across Turkey to be important. 5-6 parties together received 25 percent of the vote, and we were very saddened. This is a 4-5 year goal. If we could have formed alliances, we could have done very different things. I care about CHP exceeding the 25 percent psychological threshold and surpassing 30 percent with its own strength.

I do not want to lose municipalities. We are far behind the alliance environment and support environment of last time, but there is the party's energy and the society's expectations.

NO ONE IS OBLIGATED TO US

We are asking for votes from everyone with great sincerity, great appetite, and great demand. There is no such thing anyway, but no one is obligated to us. However, some objections that were voiced throughout the summer by those voters regarding the Republican People's Party have also disappeared.

URBAN CONSENSUS

I read about the urban consensus for the first time after the DEM Party's party meeting. They are saying, 'We have no intention of forming an alliance with any party, we will not agree with anyone, we will run with our own candidates, but we can provide an urban consensus in some places.' The definition they make there is, 'If the candidate is a candidate we can also vote for, we can view that candidate as an urban consensus candidate.'

URBAN CONSENSUS HAS BEEN REACHED WITH DEM IN CERTAIN PLACES

(Is there an alliance with DEM?) How many times does the Republican People's Party have to say this? Where does this appetite to talk about DEM come from? I don't understand that.

Does DEM have a candidate in Istanbul? Yes. While that DEM candidate exists, to ask whether Ekrem İmamoğlu is side-by-side with DEM or not...

In our relationship with DEM in this election, neither is their unconditional support for us in question, nor is our cooperation with DEM aimed at winning. An agreement called urban consensus has been reached in certain places, but DEM has candidates, and there may be many places where they will cause us to lose.

WE CONDUCTED POLLS TWICE IN IZMIR

If a mayor is unsuccessful, under normal circumstances, we do not include them in the candidate poll, but due to the sensitivity of İzmir, I have already conducted the satisfaction poll twice, which I also showed to our esteemed mayor. In the 3rd satisfaction poll where I asked about candidates, I also included the mayor. In the 4th one, where we only asked about 5 candidates, our İzmir Metropolitan Mayor was also there, and a colleague who was higher than him in the poll was appointed.

WE HAD 5 POLLS CONDUCTED REGARDING LÜTFÜ SAVAŞ

Determining a mayoral candidate for Hatay is different. There is a huge trauma in Hatay. Some of Savaş's statements created controversy. Savaş's perception in Turkey is one thing, his perception in Hatay is another. When this is the case, one must not make a mistake in Hatay.

I have not accepted delegations in 10 provinces in total as much as I have accepted for Hatay. They said very different things; there were those who complained, those who were satisfied, and those who gave advice. I am someone who knows that Lütfü Savaş is a good person and a good administrator. Our situation in Hatay under normal circumstances is clear. The vote Savaş received is clear. We had a total of 5 polls conducted regarding Savaş. We asked about Savaş in these polls, and we also saw some of the objections to Savaş. We saw that there is another Lütfü Savaş in Hatay.

THE RESULT 'IF WE WIN, WE WILL WIN WITH LÜTFÜ SAVAŞ' EMERGED

We went to the polls on the 25th. Then there were protests in Hatay. We said let's have another poll conducted. The poll came back, and I said to Mr. Lütfü, 'Let's develop an alternative in Hatay, but this cannot happen against your will.' We held various negotiations, and the result emerged that if we win, we will win with Lütfü Savaş.

If we try to change the candidate, we will lose other districts as well. We put all the alternatives in the poll; they receive fewer votes than Mr. Lütfü. If Haluk Levent had said 'yes', we would have included him in the poll. I told our 60 party assembly members, 'Hatay is critical, it is possible to get support when the candidate changes, talk to the people you are in contact with. Give your approval, and if it happens, let me know.'

WE ASKED MERT FIRAT 'SHALL WE PUT YOU IN THE POLL'

I was going to put those names in the poll. We have held 13 party assembly meetings so far. We talked to Mert Fırat and asked if we should put him in the poll; he did not want it. Haluk Levent also evaluated it and said 'no'. If our PM or MYK member had taken it and said yes, we would have included him in the poll. I can clearly state that the process is being carried out with fairness and meticulousness.

News Source: 12punto