The 3rd Ordinary Convention of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) was held to elect the leaders and chief party officials of the HDP, a left-wing and pro-

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

political party in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. The party employs gender quotas for internal elections, requiring the election of one male co-leader and one female co-leader.

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

Member of Parliament

Sırrı Süreyya Önder Sırrı Süreyya Önder (born 7 July 1962) is a Turkish film director, actor, screenwriter, columnist and politician. Elected to parliament in 2011 as an independent backed by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), he later joined the party even ...

was elected as the convention's presiding officer. Former Member of Parliament Sezai Temelli was nominated for the position of chairman, while serving MP

Pervin Buldan Pervin Buldan (born 6 November 1967) is a Turkish politician. She was a member of the Democratic Society Party (DTP). She is President of Yakay-Der and one of the deputy speakers in the 26th Parliament of Turkey. On 11 February 2018, she was el ...

, who currently serves as a Deputy Speaker of the Grand National Assembly, was nominated for the position of chairwoman. Both were elected unopposed, taking over from

Selahattin Demirtaş Selahattin Demirtaş (born 10 April 1973) is a politician, author, and former member of the parliament of Turkey. He was the co-leader of the left-wing pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), serving alongside Figen Yüksekdağ from 2014 to ...

and

Serpil Kemalbay Serpil Kemalbay Pekgözegü is a Turkish politician and former co-leader of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). Early life and education Serpil Kemalbay, whose full name is Serpil Kemalbay Pekgözegü, was born in Ardahan and completed her prima ...

respectively.

Leadership election

Nominated candidates

The following candidates were nominated by the party's convention committee and were elected unopposed. * Sezai Temelli (chairman), former

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for İstanbul's second electoral district between June and November 2015. *

(chairwoman), serving

for İstanbul's third electoral district and current Deputy Speaker of the Grand National Assembly.

Speculated candidates

(chairman), serving leader of the HDP imprisoned on terrorism charges, did not stand as a candidate. *

Ahmet Türk Ahmet Türk (born 2 July 1942, Derik, Turkey) is a Turkish politician of Kurdish origin from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). He has been a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey for several terms and was elected twice as the Ma ...

(chairman), former leader of the

Democratic Society Party The Democratic Society Party ( tr, Demokratik Toplum Partisi, DTP, Kurdish: ''Partiya Civaka Demokratîk'', PCD) was a Kurdish nationalist political party in Turkey. The party considered itself social-democratic and had observer status in the So ...

(DTP) and former Mayor of

Mardin Mardin ( ku, Mêrdîn; ar, ماردين; syr, ܡܪܕܝܢ, Merdīn; hy, Մարդին) is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for the Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on ...

. Declined due to health problems and advanced age. *

Mithat Sancar Mithat Sancar (born 1963) is a Turkish professor of public and constitutional law, columnist, and translator of Arab descent. He has been an MP for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the Turkish parliament since the June 2015 general electi ...

(chairman), serving

for

. * Saruhan Oluç (chairman), former

for

Antalya Antalya () is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish cit ...

and former leader of the

Freedom and Solidarity Party The Left Party ( tr, Sol Parti, often written as SOL Parti), is a secular, socialist political party in Turkey. The Party was founded after Freedom and Solidarity Party ( tr, Özgürlük ve Dayanışma Partisi - ÖDP) decided to change its name ...

, not nominated. * Ayhan Bilgen (chairman), serving

for

Kars Kars (; ku, Qers; ) is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. Its population is 73,836 in 2011. Kars was in the ancient region known as ''Chorzene'', (in Greek Χορζηνή) in classical historiography ( Strabo), part of ...

, not nominated. File:Ahmet Türk.jpg,

(chairman, declined) File:Mithat Sancar 2015 (portrait).jpg,

(chairman, not nominated) File:Selahattin Demirtaş cropped.jpg,

(chairman, did not stand)

References

{{reflist, 30em Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey) politicians 2018 elections in Turkey