Kılıçdaroğlu was criticized for not resigning CHP chairman after losing four general elections, until his own defeat in the party's 2023 Ordinary Convention.

As leader of the main opposition, Kılıçdaroğlu attempted constructing big-tent coalitions with other parties, which culminated in the formation of the Nation Alliance and CHP's subsequent victories in the 2019 local elections.

He was the CHP's and the Nation Alliance's joint candidate for the 2023 Turkish presidential election, but lost to incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Kemal Karabulut was born on 17 December 1948 in the Ballıca village of Nazımiye district in Tunceli Province, eastern Turkey,[10][11] to Kamer, a clerk-recorder of deeds and his wife Yemuş.

In 1992 he was appointed director-general of the Social Insurance Institution (Turkish: Sosyal Sigortalar Kurumu [tr], abbreviated SSK).

He taught at Hacettepe University and chaired the Specialized Commission on the Informal Economy within the framework of the preparation of the Eighth Five-Year Development Plan.

[15] Kılıçdaroğlu retired from civil service in 1999 and tried to enter politics from within Bülent Ecevit's Democratic Left Party (DSP).

[12] Kılıçdaroğlu's efforts to uncover malpractice among high-ranking Justice and Development Party (AKP) politicians carried him to headlines[when?]

Two deputy chairmen of the ruling AKP, Şaban Dişli and Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat, resigned from their respective positions in the party following television debates with Kılıçdaroğlu.

He publicly accused the AKP-affiliated Mayor of Ankara, Melih Gökçek, of complicity in a corruption scandal relating to the "Deniz Feneri" charity based in Germany.

[12] Kılıçdaroğlu was announced as the CHP's mayoral candidate for the 2009 local elections by the party leader Deniz Baykal in January 2009.

Kılıçdaroğlu announced that he would run his campaign based on clean politics, vowing to open cases of corruption against the serving incumbent, AKP mayor Kadir Topbaş.

According to reports, the party was divided over the leadership issue, with its Central Executive Board insisting that Baykal retake the position.

[22] In view of this overwhelming support, the presidium of the party convention decided to move the election, initially scheduled for Sunday, forward to Saturday.

[23][24] Kılıçdaroğlu took office as the Leader of the Main Opposition on 22 May 2010 by virtue of leading the second largest political party in the Grand National Assembly.

Many media commentators and speculators predicted that Kılıçdaroğlu would breathe new life into the CHP, after consecutive election defeats under Baykal's leadership.

Kılıçdaroğlu, along with members of minor opposition parties, argued that the proposed changes were an attempt to politicise the judiciary and further increase the control of the AKP over neutral state institutions.

[28] Among the candidates were former CHP leader Deniz Baykal and arrested Ergenekon suspects such as Mustafa Balbay and Mehmet Haberal.

Making a clean break with the past, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu left his mark on the Republican People's Party's 435-candidate list, leaving off 78 current deputies as he sought to redefine and reposition the main opposition.

The decrease of 1.03% compared to their 2011 result (25.98%) was attributed to CHP voters voting tactically for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) to ensure that they surpassed the 10% election threshold.

[33][34] After the 2017 Turkish constitutional referendum, which significantly expanded President Erdoğan's powers, Kılıçdaroğlu and CHP filed a court appeal against a decision by Turkey's Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) to accept unstamped ballots.

'[ ... ]The YSK can't express an opinion above the will of the parliament,[ ... ]If the Constitutional Court rejects our application, we will regard the changes as illegitimate.

[38][39] In June 2017, Enis Berberoğlu, a member of the Turkish parliament from the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), was sentenced to 25 years in prison for allegedly leaking state secrets to a newspaper.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Kılıçdaroğlu stated, "Turkey is a member of the Western alliance and NATO, and Putin also knows this well.

During a program at the Johns Hopkins University in Washington, Kılıçdaroğlu said, "The full membership to the EU is a common objective of all six opposition leaders.

"[60] Kılıçdaroğlu vowed to establish the "Organization of Peace and Cooperation in the Middle East" with Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey as its member states.

[63] He also has explicitly supported the deportation of Syrian refugees from Turkey, citing economic strain on citizens and the alleged desire of humans to live in their region of birth.

[64][65] Kılıçdaroğlu has referred to Erdoğan and Mitsotakis as "populists who play [the] war card as their votes are declining" amid the recent increasing tension between two countries over the Aegean Islands.

[66] Kılıçdaroğlu has approved of Erdoğan's "balanced" handling of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

[75] When the then AK Party deputy chairman Hüseyin Çelik questioned his origins, Kılıçdaroğlu claimed descent from Turkmens from Khorasan who first settled in Akşehir and arrived in Dersim after the Battle of Chaldiran.