Jailed Kurdish leader quits active politics after party slips in Turkey election

FILE PHOTO: A supporter of Turkey's main pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) holds a mask of their jailed former leader and presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtas during a rally in Ankara, Turkey, June 19, 2018. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

ANKARA (Reuters) - A jailed Kurdish leader said on Thursday he was withdrawing from active politics and called on his party's officials to conduct "comprehensive self-criticism" after its poorer than expected performance in Turkey's elections last month.

His pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), running under another party banner due to a potential ban over alleged militant ties, won 8.79% of the votes in the parliamentary election on May 14.