The Congress resulted in the re-election of Devlet Bahçeli as party leader, with rivals failing to obtain enough signatures to contest the leadership election.

According to Habertürk journalist Muharrem Sarıkaya, the MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli decided to hold the congress on the same day as Newroz to divert media attention away from the mainly Kurdish-populated city of Diyarbakır, where the bulk of the Newroz celebrations were due to take place.

[1] The congress was held in the Ankara Arena, with Devlet Bahçeli arriving at 11:00 local time.

A Newroz lantern had initially been planned to mark Bahçeli's arrival, though this was abandoned for safety reasons.

Bahçeli's speech also focussed heavily on criticising the Solution process initiated by the Turkish government with Kurdish separatists, thereby also indicating the main campaign issues and policies in the preparation for the general election.