Analysis: Members of Turkey's main opposition CHP deliver message of change in primaries

The hopes of the main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) old guards that they would make a glorious comeback were disappointed over the weekend after party members selected fresh faces in the weekend's primary elections.

Hundreds of thousands of CHP members flocked to polling stations on March 29 to vote for their elected candidates ahead of the June 7 parliamentary elections, making the CHP the sole party to conduct primaries.

While the results were disappointing for names who once held power within the party, new names will make up the majority of the CHP's electoral lists in the upcoming election.

Former CHP leader Deniz Baykal came second in the primary of his hometown Antalya, finishing behind Nefi Kaya, a popular doctor. A former close aide to Baykal and the party's former secretary general, Önder Sav, who kept Baykal at the helm until the party leader resigned from the post in 2010 (he was dubbed the kingmaker for paving the way for Kemal K?l?çdaro?lu to replace Baykal) failed to get enough votes for a place in the candidate list for June 7.

Mustafa Sar?gül, the former ?i?li mayor who returned to the CHP last year to run for the Istanbul Metropolitan mayor's post, finished fifth in the primary for Istanbul's second electoral district, putting his chances of being elected to parliament at risk.

According to the CHP's earlier announced system, candidates who ran in the primaries would be put in the second, fourth, sixth and eighth spots in the electoral districts of Istanbul, Ankara and ?zmir, while the remaining top spots are reserved as part of quotas.

Female candidates will run in the first spot in Istanbul's three electoral districts, as well as two electoral districts in both Ankara and ...