A Turkish court delayed a decision on Monday on whether to oust the main opposition leader and annul his party’s 2023 congress over alleged irregularities, in a case that has already deepened the country’s political crisis.

The judge in Ankara adjourned the case concerning the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and its chairman, Ozgur Ozel, until October 24.

Hundreds of CHP members, including President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, have been jailed pending trial in a separate, sprawling legal probe into alleged graft and terrorism links.

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If the court rules next month to annul the CHP’s congress, that would strip Ozel - the party’s combative, hoarse-voiced chair who has risen to prominence since Imamoglu’s arrest - of the title that he won there.