CUMHURIYET- Columnist Orhan Erinc comments on Turkey’s general elections. A summary of his column is as follows:
Yesterday’s general elections swept away from our political scene the three partners of the coalition government, namely the Democratic Left Party (DSP), the Nationalist Action Party (MHP) and the Motherland Party (ANAP), who were held responsible by voters for the country’s current economic crisis. Yet, voters didn’t seem content to do that alone, and also showed at the polls a clear lack of confidence in the New Turkey Party (YTP), the Felicity Party (SP) and the True Path Party (DYP). The underlying reason behind all this is readily apparent: The current sickly state of Turkey’s economy.
Turkey has rushed into these elections, without making a single change to the Elections Law, especially to the 10% threshold, and it all boiled down to an unjust and unfair situation as the political will of 45% of the voters will go entirely unrepresented in Parliament. If the threshold were 5%, the DYP, the MHP, the Young Party (GP), the Democratic People’s Party (DEHAP) and even ANAP could have sent their deputies to Parliament. In that case, the percentage of unrepresented votes would have hovered at around 10%, and the legitimacy of the elections would not be so much in doubt. Moreover, independent candidates, who managed to attract only 1% of the total vote, actually ended up winning eight parliamentary seats, whereas a party with almost 9.5% voter support failed to take a single one.
When it comes to the Republican People’s Party (CHP), its success is apparently an illusory one. Except for 1999’s general elections, in which it failed to enter Parliament, the CHP’s votes in yesterday’s elections showed no increase in its usual support. Moreover, we don’t know yet how Kemal Dervis’s presence in the CHP ranks affected the voters’ decisions.
The Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) coming to power with a massive majority of seats capable of amending the Constitution has created a great deal of uneasiness. However, let me remind my readers that the article of our Constitution defining the basic principles of the Republic of Turkey, which includes the principle of secularism, cannot be amended, nor can amendments to it be proposed. Even if such a proposal were made, the president has the right to put it to a referendum.
Last night on television we watched two party leaders. MHP Chairman Devlet Bahceli said that he blamed himself for his party’s failure in the elections and announced that he wouldn’t stand in the next race for the MHP chairmanship. The AKP’s controversial leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan uttered two very significant sentences. We heard him saying: ‘As Ataturk stated, sovereignty is vested fully and unconditionally in the Turkish nation,’ and, ‘We will be respectful of everyone’s lifestyles.’ Now, did he mean by that that if the AKP held power with a majority, whatever it does will be legitimate? Or, did he mean that the AKP would lift all the restrictions on the headscarf issue, which is in Turkey a political symbol? We’ll have to wait and see.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION