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An Ankara court has accepted an indictment against 12 suspects related to allegations of vote buying at the Türkiye's main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) 38th Ordinary Congress, with prosecutors seeking prison sentences of 1 to 3 years for "introducing fraud into voting."
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office prepared the indictment under Article 112 of the Political Parties Law against suspects including Ekrem Imamoglu, who was removed from his Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality mayor position following a corruption investigation, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Cemil Tugay, and CHP Istanbul Provincial Chairman Ozgur Celik.
The indictment was accepted by Ankara 26th Criminal Court of First Instance. The trial date will be determined after the court prepares its preliminary report.
According to the indictment, Imamoglu served as "congress president" at the party's 38th Ordinary Congress, with other suspects acting in coordination under his organization.
The indictment states: "At the Republican People's Party 38th Ordinary Congress held on November 4-5, 2023 at Ankara Sports Hall, they gave money to some congress delegates to vote in favor of general chairman candidate Ozgur Ozel, offered and promised mayoral and municipal council member candidacies in various provinces and districts to some, placed some delegates and their relatives in CHP municipalities and their affiliated companies and subsidiaries, distributed numerous market shopping cards to some delegates and their relatives."
The indictment further alleges that suspects "asked delegates who voted in the congress to photograph their votes with mobile phones and to them, delayed the transition to the second round of voting after first round voting results were released in the congress hall, made false statements that Kemal Kilicdaroglu had withdrawn from his candidacy, thus corrupting the will of congress delegates and working for general chairman candidate Ozgur Ozel to win the general chairman election."
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The 12 suspects named in the indictment are:
At CHP's 38th Ordinary Congress, Kemal Kilicdaroglu and Ozgur Ozel competed for the general chairmanship. In the first round, Ozel received 682 votes and Kilicdaroglu 664 votes.
Since neither candidate achieved the required majority of 684 votes from total delegates, the election proceeded to a second round.
Ozel won the second round with 812 votes against Kilicdaroglu's 536 votes, becoming CHP's 8th general chairman.
The Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor's Office initially took up a complaint regarding "vote buying for money" at the CHP congress on November 19, 2023, but ruled itself incompetent and transferred the file to Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on December 22, 2023.
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation in January 2024 under Article 112 of the Political Parties Law for "introducing fraud into voting" regarding the congress events.
Former Hatay Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Lutfu Savas and some delegates filed separate lawsuits for the annulment of CHP's 38th Ordinary Congress. These annulment cases were consolidated under a single file at Ankara 42nd Civil Court of First Instance.
Under Turkish Political Parties Law Article 112, "introducing fraud into voting" carries penalties of 1 to 3 years imprisonment. If convicted, the suspects would also face political bans during their sentence period.
The indictment names former CHP General Chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu as the victim and former Hatay Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Lutfu Savas as the complainant.
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