Compromise set for leadership election after poor electoral showing27 November 4780
Almost immediately after the election results came in, Orkide Onal announced she would be stepping down from the leadership of Compromise. Though
the election result was not disastrous, as some party insiders had feared, the dream of building up to a liberal surge had been dashed by the emergence
of a new party - the Democratic Party. No longer the only alternative to the historic two-party system, and having to battle for secular and socially
liberal votes, Onal's leadership once again resulted in a last-place finish that made her position in the party she founded untenable.
The resulting leadership election looks set to be a pitched battle between three candidates who are already known to be working overtime behind the
scenes: Odul Sen, the party's first assembly member and a left-wing defector from the Democratic Alliance; Olgun Demirkan, Onal's right hand man and
a devoted moderate; Kardelen Kazak, an often austere former mayor running on a platform of compromise between the party's two emergent factions.
Odul Sen, who defected after losing his bid to lead the DI, has the backing of the party's economic left who seek to transform Compromise into an
across-the-board, left-wing party. He has the devoted support of many in the 'New Dawn' group who joined Compromise after a purge by DI leader
Eldemir Bal. His politics are in stark opposition to all three of the other parties in Jakania and he has been attacked as being too dogmatically progressive
to enter government.
Olgun Demirkan, who helped Orkide Onal form the party, is a grandee of the centrist wing who hopes to run to the middle between the three 'ideological'
parties. By cutting deals with other parties and acting pragmatically, Demirkan's politics align with the stated aim of Compromise when it was founded -
to be a bridge between the nation's left and right, while remaining committed to a degree of social liberalism and spiritual moderacy. Demirkan has been
criticised by some on the party's left for arguing against including a pro-trans-rights plank in the party's most recent manifesto.
Kardelen Kazak is hoping to unite the two wings and keep the young movement together. A former small town mayor, her demeanour is less charismatic
than the other two and she has not yet established a strong base among the party's growing membership. Her leadership platform is rumoured to be
focused on green politics and social regionalism - hoping to advance minority interests and unite her party's distinct groups by giving local governments
the ability to advance them separately. She has taken personally liberal views on social issues, but is considered less dogmatically secular than her
opponents and has stated she is personally opposed to 'non-emergency' abortion. She is the only woman known to be organising a campaign.
Unless there is a surprise entrance later on, these are likely to be the three contenders to lead the centre to centre-left party. A win from Demirkan or
Sen could alienate one wing and cause internal divisions, while a Kazak victory runs the risk of energising neither side as Onal struggled to do. Only one
poll has been done so far on the issue: party members favoured Sen, the general public favoured Demirkan. However, as the election will be conducted
via the alternative vote system, Kazak could win over second choice votes as the 'compromise' candidate. At the very least, her own supporters could
prove decisive in a final count between Demirkan and Sen.
Dokuz Haberler is a broadsheet Jakanian newspaper covering current affairs from a non-partisan perspective[/quote]