Turkish MP seeks opposition party leadership

A Turkish MP seeking leadership of the country's main opposition has vowed that he will return the party to power if he is elected. 

The Republican People's Party – the CHP – will hold an extraordinary congress between September 5 and 6 to select a leader. The party is trying to recover from a poor performance in Turkey's August 10 presidential election.

The decision came after several lawmakers in the party held a press conference to suggest the removal of Kemal Kilicdaroglu as chairman.

Former deputy group chairman Muharrem Ince announced his candidacy last week.

Holding a press conference alongside the party's Ankara provincial head on Monday, Ince said: "Our initial aim is to become first party."

Claiming the current party leadership lacks solutions to Turkey's problems, Ince added: "Since the CHP is not coherent, no one believes that we will be in power." 

Expecting that he will become the new chairman of the party, Ince said the CHP will be the "party of hope." 

However, the chances of Kilicdaroglu remaining as leader look a lot stronger as 78 out of 81 CHP provincial chairmen have declared support for the current party chairman. Overseas CHP branches also pledged their support to Kilicdaroglu in a joint statement issued last week.