ANKARA: An Ankara court on Monday adjourned a key hearing into alleged vote buying that could upend the leadership of Turkiye’s main opposition CHP party, which has been battling a growing array of legal challenges.

After more than an hour’s debate, the judge adjourned the case until Oct 24, a correspondent inside the court said of the hearing, which could have big impact not only on the party but on Turkish democracy.

Critics say the vote-buying case is a politically motivated attempt to undermine Turkiye’s oldest political party, which won a huge victory over President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP in 2024 local elections and has been rising in the polls.

The CHP denies the charges, accusing the government of using the judiciary to carry out a “political coup”, hosting a rally on Sunday at which vast crowds packed Ankara’s Tandogan Square in a huge show of defiance.

When the hearing opened, the room was packed with journalists and lawyers, while outside there was a heavy police deployment at the entr­ance and hundreds more in riot gear in buses parked nearby, the correspondent said. The case seeks to overturn the result of a CHP congress in November 2023 on grounds of vote rigging.

During the vote, longtime party chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu was ousted and Ozgur Ozel was elected in his place.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2025