Will Elections Be Postponed?

MILLIYET- Columnist Derya Sazak writes about today’s critical parliamentary session and whether a decision will be made to hold elections in November. A summary of his column is as follows:
Parliament is set to convene this afternoon to decide on the EU harmonization laws and whether elections will be held on Nov. 3 or postponed until April of next year. Murat Sokmenoglu will be the presiding speaker at the parliamentary session. This is going to be a very critical week for Turkey. Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit had a ‘tete-a-tete’ with Nationalist Action Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli and informed him of his intentions to postpone elections until next April. The matter in question is whether the resignation of the prime minister under Article 78 of the Parliament Charter could halt the election process. Could Ecevit’s resignation prevent the Parliament from deciding on elections? Sokmenoglu thinks not. ‘The MHP’s proposal isn’t a law, it’s a decision. Parliamentary decisions aren’t even forwarded to the president for approval,’ said Mr. Sokmenoglu. ‘So, even if the government withdraws, as soon as the Parliament decides to hold elections on Nov. 3, the decision becomes final,’ he added. The topic of discussion at the Ecevit-Bahceli meeting was postponing elections until April, rather than the possibility of Ecevit resigning. What is the prime minister trying to achieve? Ecevit’s statement last week that Turkey would be faced with a regime crisis if the People’s Democracy Party (HADEP) and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) were to get into Parliament, is being interpreted by some circles as the sensitivity of the military. Everyone seems to be very confused. The scenarios being considered range from the return of Necmettin Erbakan after a ban of five years from politics and the possibility of establishing a government without the MHP to Ecevit’s Democratic Left Party (DSP). The US plans to launch an operation in Iraq are another factor. Ecevit wants to be in power if such an operation takes place. What’s more important is that Economy Minister Kemal Dervis will be returning from the US tomorrow. What will he decide to do? This week we will be finding out the answers to all these questions.

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION