SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Chief of Turkey's Republican People's Party (CHP) Ozgur Ozel was re-elected on Sunday as the party's chairman as a sole candidate, amid controversy of an opposing candidate withdrawing from candidacy under suspicious circumstances.

CHP on Sunday held their 21st congress, which saw the controversial re-election of Ozel after a candidate withdrew from candidacy while another failed to meet the delegate signature quota to run for the position.

Ozel won chairmanship of the party by receiving 1171 votes – the entire ballot, after 105 of the original 1276 votes were "invalidated", Turkish state media Anadolu Agency reported.

"In order not to cause harm to my party, and for reasons I will not detail here, I have decided not to continue with my candidacy," Antalya's Muratpasa Mayor Umit Uysal, who also ran for CHP's presidency wrote in an X post on Sunday shortly before the congress. 

"My struggle will continue in the strongest way for a truly democratic, developed, productive, and sharing Turkey—for a CHP that embraces all of society and secures the support of more than fifty percent of the public," Uysal added.

Shortly after Uysal's withdrawal, Berhan Simsek, the only remaining opponent of Ozel, failed to obtain sufficient signatures from delegates, leaving Ozel as the sole candidate in the run. 

The congress comes amid tensions between CHP and the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) over the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imanoglu, who is also CHP's candidate in the run for Turkish presidency against Erdogan in the presidential elections set to take place in 2028.

CHP is currently the second largest party in the Turkish parliament and is considered as the main opposition party to the ruling AKP.