MILLIYET- Columnist Derya Sazak comments on recent developments in Turkey regarding the heated debate on possible elections postponement. A summary of his column is as follows:
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer closed his doors to the postponement of November’s elections by saying ‘I do not favor a government change.’ Sezer stated that he didn’t think that the elections would be postponed, adding, ‘I am sure that Parliament will not cast a pall over its prestige and that the leaders of the political parties will do what it is right.’ There are two groups which may want to postpone the Nov. 3 elections, namely those who were disappointed by the deputy candidate lists and those worried that their parties won’t meet the 10% threshold. However, the designs of the former group seem unlikely to prevail this time due not only to Sezer’s sensitivities on the issue but also to last-minute developments in parties such as the True Path Party (DYP) and the Nationalist Action Party (MHP), both of which stand on the verge of the 10% threshold. DYP leader Tansu Ciller has come to accept that postponing the elections and getting the prime ministry by overthrowing the current government with a censure motion wouldn’t be easy, and so she decided to enter the elections in alliance with Mehmet Ali Bayar’s Democratic Turkey Party (DTP). Moreover, she managed to come to terms with Tugrul Turkes and his Enlightened Turkey Party (ATP), and thus got the chance to claim at least a handful of votes of the MHP. Along with the Justice and Development Party (AKP), the DYP and the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the MHP is also ready to enter the elections. Deputies dissatisfied with their places on candidate lists and hoping for postponement of the elections put most of their chips on a storm breaking out in the MHP, but these hopes were dashed when the MHP leader intervened with the lists and kept its current Parliament cadre on the list to hold the sway. And now, it’s the people’s turn. Turkey will wake up to a new Parliament and government on the morning of Nov. 4. The AKP seems likely to emerge the top party after elections and its leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is a virtual shoo-in to become Turkey’s new prime minister. Whereas the CHP, as the sole party in a position to challenge the AKP, is trying its best to lose. I hope that it will make up for its missteps in preparing its candidate lists with a sound economic policy underlining Dervis’s role in the elections campaign.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION