Former Turkish presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has given up his place as leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Hürriyet reports.

At the party congress in Ankara, he lost the election to Özgür Özel.

In the first round, Özel received 682 votes from delegates, and Kılıçdaroğlu received 664 votes. According to the results of the second round, the new leader of the CHP received 812 votes, and his rival Kılıçdaroğlu - 536.

Kılıçdaroğlu has led the party since 2010. It’s Turkey's oldest party and was founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Kılıçdaroğlu participated in the Turkish presidential elections this spring. The first round took place on May 14, following its results, the current head of the republic Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Kılıçdaroğlu advanced to the second round. On May 28, the second round took place, in which Erdogan scored 52.18% and Kılıçdaroğlu - 47.82%.