performance, Baykal was reelected as leader during the CHP convention of 27 February 1998. In the 1999 general election, the CHP scored below the 10% election threshold needed to win seats in Parliaments, resulting in all CHP MPs being ejected from the chamber. Baykal subsequently resigned as leader and Altan Öymen was elected in his place. However, he stood again for the leadership against Öymen in the 2000 extraordinary convention, being elected for a third time as CHP leader. Leader of the Opposition, 2002-10 Baykal led the CHP through the 2002 general election, where the party won 19.38% of the vote and came second. The newly formed Justice and Development Party (AKP), meanwhile, won a landslide majority in Parliament and put an end to years of unstable coalition governments. Baykal subsequently became the leader of the opposition, leading the only opposition party in Parliament. All other parties had fallen short of the 10% boundary, leaving the AKP with 363 and the CHP with 178 seats in the 550-seat Grand National Assembly. Baykal was instrumental in assisting the AKP change the law in order to allow the party's banned leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to enter Parliament. Erdoğan had been banned from public office due to religious intolerance, with the AKP needing 367 votes in Parliament to change the law in Erdoğan's favour. The CHP supported the change and Erdoğan was elected to Parliament in a by-election in 2003, subsequently taking over from Abdullah Gül as Prime Minister. Baykal has always held his ground as a staunch supporter of a strong response to terrorism. Leading his party through the 2004 local elections, the CHP managed to increase their vote share but lost further ground, losing control of Antalya, Baykal's hometown, to the AKP. As a result, the Mayor of İstanbul's Şişli district, Mustafa Sarıgül, challenged Baykal for the leadership in an extraordinary convention in January 2005. Although Baykal won the election, the convention was marred by violence between supporters of the two opposing candidates, with Sarıgül being expelled from the party afterwards. He first joined the DSP, but later formed the Turkish Change Movement in 2009. Baykal strongly protested the AKP's nomination of Abdullah Gül as their presidential candidate for the 2007 presidential election, owing to Gül's history in political Islam. The CHP held several Republic protests to rally against the parliamentary process, with CHP MPs boycotting the election process. Due to