İYİ Party leader Meral Akşener's decision to hold an Extraordinary Elective Congress following the poor results in the local elections, and her announcement today that she will not be a candidate at the Congress, has shifted the balance within the İYİ Party.
Following Akşener's decision, the photograph taken on May 26, 2020, during the Ramadan Feast at Meral Akşener's home in Üsküdar, has come to mind.
Former CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, former CHP Istanbul Provincial Chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu, the then-İYİ Party Istanbul Provincial Chair Buğra Kavuncu—who recently resigned from his post as Organization President—and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu had met at the same table.
AKŞENER HAD UPSET THE TABLE
Following that photograph, İYİ Party leader Meral Akşener had walked away from the Table of Six and invited İBB Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and Ankara Metropolitan Municipality (ABB) Mayor Mansur Yavaş to be presidential candidates.
Although Akşener returned to the table, the de facto table dissolved after President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won the presidential elections.
Following the dissolution of the Table of Six, Akşener decided to enter the local elections "freely and independently." In the last local election, Akşener announced that she would not be a candidate at the Congress following her party's poor results.
KAVUNCU ALSO RESIGNED
Buğra Kavuncu, who was the İYİ Party's İBB candidate in the March 31 Local Elections, received 0.63 percent of the vote. Kavuncu resigned from his post as Organization President after the election.
KILIÇDAROĞLU AND KAFTANCIOĞLU ALSO LEFT
As the Congress process began in the CHP following the 2023 Presidential Elections, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu lost against Özgür Özel. Kılıçdaroğlu, who opened an office in Ankara, continues his work there.
Although the then-CHP Istanbul Provincial Chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu supported Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu at the party convention, she ended her active political career due to a political ban.
ONLY İMAMOĞLU REMAINS
Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was at the table and was completing his first year as İBB Mayor at the time, was re-elected as İBB Mayor in the March 31 Local Elections by defeating the People's Alliance candidate Murat Kurum by a margin of over 11 points.
News Source: 12punto
