Kılıçdaroğlu Chairperson Once Again

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Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was once again elected chairperson at the 36th General Assembly of the Republican People's Party (CHP).

The voting process began at 9:00 p.m. and ended at 11:00 p.m.

1,253 of the 1,266 registered delegates cast votes in the election, Anadolu Agency reported. Kılıçdaroğlu garnered 790 of 1237 valid votes to İnce's 447.

Members of the 60-person Party Assembly (PM) and High Discipline Board will be elected on the second day of the general assembly.

Kılıçdaroğlu: Our struggle for rights and justice will go on

According to the news piece on Hürriyet, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu stated the following after his election to party chairperson:

"I promise to engage in all sorts of struggle to protect the rights of each individual in this country.

"Who engineered Turkey's problem of survival in the past 15 years? We want to live in our own country in peace.

"Gratitude is due to our heroic soldiers who lost their lives in Afrin. They are our pride and honor.

"We would like to live in peace with all our neighbors, to embrace them. We will push on in our struggle for rights and justice."

Kılıçdaroğlu had been elected chairperson at the 33rd General Assembly in 2010 following then CHP Chairperson Deniz Baykal's resignation after images of him were broadcast online.

About Kılıçdaroğlu

CHP Chairperson and İzmir MP, Kılıçdaroğlu entered parliament in the general elections of November 3, 2002 as Istanbul MP. He has served as CHP Central Administrative Board member and CHP Group Chair Deputy. He has been elected chairperson in the four assemblies since 22 May 2010.

Kılıçdaroğlu started his working life as junior account expert at the Ministry of Finance in 1971. After spending a year in France, he served as department head and assistant manager at the General Directorate of Revenues. In 1991 he became director of the Social Security Organization for the Self-Employed (Bağ-Kur), and in 1992, director of the Organization of Social Insurance and Security. In January 1999 he took his retirement. He was chairperson of the Eighth Five Year Development Plan Underground Economy Specialization Commission, taught at Hacettepe University for a while, and served as administrative board member at İşbank. In 1994 Ekonomik Trend magazine elected him "Bureaucrat of the Year".

He was born in the Nazımiye district of Tunceli province in 1948. He received primary and secondary education in various parts of Anatolia such as Erciş, Tunceli, Genç, and Elazığ, and graduated from the Ankara Economic and Commercial Sciences Academy (Gazi University Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences) in 1971. (EKN/PU)