UBP to appoint new leader after Sucuoğlu resignation
THE National Unity Party (UBP), the main partner of the ruling three-party coalition government, will elect a new leader tomorrow following the resignation of former Prime Minister Faiz Sucuoğlu as chairman.
Dr Sucuoğlu, who became the party’s leader less than a year ago, announced his resignation on Wednesday, although he stressed he was not quitting politics altogether.
Despite leading the UBP to a general election victory in January, Dr Sucuoğlu was effectively ousted as PM in May following a series of government crises, when President Ersin Tatar did not give him the mandate to form a new government.
Fellow UBP Ünal Üstel was instead given that duty, but with Dr Sucuoğlu remaining as the UBP chairman, a role he had held since November 1, 2021.
His announcement also came just three days after he and his family were involved in a threevehicle accident on the GirneTatlısu main road while travelling to Esentepe, although no-one was injured.
“My decision is not to leave my party or politics but to resign as chairman,” he said.
Recalling that he was elected as the UBP leader with 61 per cent of the votes and that the UBP was the winning party in the general election that followed, Dr Sucuoğlu stated that the government’s work was disrupted “due to unfortunate circumstances”.
Dr Sucuoğlu stated that by “making a sacrifice never seen in the UBP’s history” he transferred the position of prime minister to another MP, but that maintaining the “dual-headed situation” no longer makes a “positive contribution” and has “started to create problems within the party”.
Just a week ago Dr Sucuoğlu had said that he “will not resign” amid speculation that the date of the UBP’s General Assembly was being brought forward.
Cyprus Today’s sister newspaper Kıbrıs reported that the traffic accident he and his family were involved in at the weekend had “influenced his decision to resign”.
The UBP General Assembly is due to take place at 10am tomorrow at the Near East University Atatürk Culture and Congress Centre, where it is expected that Mr Üstel will be anointed as the new UBP leader.
Mr Üstel released a statement on Wednesday in which he thanked Dr Sucuoğlu “for his decision”.
“Tomorrow [Thursday] he will have an operation, I offer my best wishes to him and his family,” Mr Üstel added.
The latest events mark a remarkable turn in fortunes for Dr Sucuoğlu within the space of just 10 months.
Last November he swept to victory in the UBP leadership race in the first round of voting among party members, gaining 5,295 votes compared to 2,869 votes for his nearest rival, Hasan Taçoy, while Mr Üstel was not even a candidate.
In January’s general election Dr Sucuoğlu increased both the UBP’s share of the vote and its number of MPs, although he fell just short of the majority in Parliament that he had been aiming for.