CUMHURIYET- Columnist Cuneyt Arcayurek comments on discussions about postponing the elections scheduled to be held on Nov. 3. A summary of his column is as follows:
Those who think that November’s elections are going to be postponed are terribly mistaken, because someone has already uttered that miracle word, ‘uncertainty.’ Former Economy Minister Kemal Dervis said that if the elections were not held on their scheduled date, uncertainty would again hang over the economy. Others, for instance business circles, are also singing the same tune. To put it straightforwardly, once the word ‘uncertainty’ left Dervis’s lips it meant that there was no need to be concerned; elections will surely be held on Nov. 3. There is nothing that could be held to contradict such a conclusion. On the contrary, there are several signs supporting our thesis.
Just take a look at what Guenter Verheugen said. He listed those people who could help Turkey get a date for accession talks from the EU, and neither the prime minister nor the foreign minister were on his list. Instead, he gave Deniz Baykal, the chairman of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), advice on how to get a date, and said, ‘Take Dervis with you, go and talk with the French president, the German chancellor and the British prime minister.’ This was Verheugen’s suggestion, and it alone is enough to bring an end to the discussions about election postponement.
Designs for postponing the elections and forming another government have by now lost much of the wind from their sails. The latest volley is a move to lower the 10% threshold to 5%, one led by Istemihan Talay of the New Turkey Party (YTP). However, Talay’s initiative was not welcomed by the YTP’s leader, Ismail Cem. Moreover, Talay has taken heavy criticism and implicit accusations from Economy Minister Masum Turker over the last three days’ spike in interest rates.
It’s very likely that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) will attract most of the dissident votes of those people who suffered much from previous governments under which corruption prevailed in every aspect of life. Thus, those political parties and their leaders who fear that they will fall in the elections ahead should look for no one to blame but themselves.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION