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Doğan Demir, an Istanbul lawmaker and one of the founders of the opposition Future Party (GP), announced his resignation on Monday. He is the third lawmaker to sever ties with the party, following two other Istanbul lawmakers who parted ways with the GP over the weekend.
In a social media post, Demir said the party had lost its “sustainable political ground” and blamed administrators for ignoring his warnings to that extent. His complaint was similar to that of Selim Temurci and Isa Mesih Şahin, who said in a joint resignation letter that “the current situation” of the party forced them to resign.
“Our party had potential, but it now evolved into a political structure seeking to find a place for itself based on political conjuncture. It even gave up its name in its bid to join inorganic political alliances,” the lawmakers said in their letter, referring to parliamentary bloc New Path GP formed with the Felicity Party (SP) and the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA).
With Demir’s resignation, the number of lawmakers at the New Path bloc decreased to 21, while the number of independent lawmakers at the Parliament rose to 14. The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) retains a majority in Parliament with 272 seats. It is followed by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which has 135 lawmakers, and the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), which retains 56 seats. The AK Party’s ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), has 47 lawmakers, followed by the Good Party (IP) with 29 lawmakers.
The GP was founded in 2019 by former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and fellow former members of the AK Party. Like DEVA, another party founded by former AK Party stalwart Ali Babacan, it failed to garner support from the electorate and was forced to have its candidates run in the CHP list in the 2023 legislative elections. In exchange for support for the CHP’s presidential candidate, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the GP had 10 lawmakers elected to the Parliament in 2023 under the banner of the CHP. The party’s weak vote percentage forced it to skip fielding candidates in the 2024 municipal elections across Türkiye.
After the AK Party’s sound victory in the presidential and legislative elections in 2023 against a six-party opposition bloc, opposition parties scrambled to reshuffle their cadres and weigh new alliances. Some parted ways with chairs, while others watched as lawmakers departed for other parties, including the AK Party. The 2024 municipal elections, which ended with losses for the AK Party, instilled hope in the opposition parties. However, only the CHP remains a strong opponent for the ruling party, as others scored poorly in the municipal vote.
