in 1999 election, its highest vote rate in its history and became the second largest party. Devlet Bahçeli served as a deputy prime minister in the subsequent coalition government (DSP-Motherland-MHP) of Bülent Ecevit. Bahçeli announced on 7 July 2002 of his withdrawal of support for the government, calling for new elections to be held on 3 November, and campaigned for fixing Turkey's economy in the lead up to the general election. However MHP was expelled from parliament for not passing the 10% electoral threshold in the 2002 election, polling 8%. Bahçeli resigned his chairmanship, announcing "I am the only one responsible for the failure", but was reelected in the party's 2003 congress in a competition between Ramiz Ongun, Koray Aydın, and Aytekin Yıldırım. Opposition Bahçeli was again re-elected as MHP chairman in a congress held on 19 November 2006. In the 2007 general election, he and his party reentered parliament, receiving 14.27% of the votes. Bahçeli campaigned in the 2011 general election promising 7% GDP growth and a change in electoral laws. MHP's vote share decreased to 13%. Bahçeli was re-elected as the chairman in party congresses held in 2012 and 2015. The slogan of the election campaign used by the MHP for the June 2015 general election was “Bizimle yürü Türkiye!” (Walk with us, Turkey!) Among the election promises, Bahçeli called for raising the minimum wage to 1400 TL, that pensioners would be given a bonus of 1400 TL twice a year, and that terrorism would be eradicated. MHP increased their vote more than 3%, bringing it to 16.29%. The election produced a hung parliament, so AKP, CHP, MHP, and HDP engaged in coalition talks which ended up falling through, so another election was called. When campaigning for the election held on 1 November 2015 Bahçeli promised a 250 lira rent aid would be given to families without a home, and a crescent card would be given to families in need. MHP's position faltered and received less than 12% of the votes. MHP congress controversy (2015–2017) Following MHP's defeat in the 2015 election, high ranking MHP members demanded Bahçeli's resignation as chairman. When he refused, 547 delegates put forward their demands to convene an extraordinary congress. Important names such as Meral Akşener, Sinan Oğan, and Koray Aydın called for a congress and announced that they were candidates for the chairmanship, however Bahçeli rejected the calls for an extraordinary congress