Via the BBC: Turkish poll crisis goes to court
The first round of the election in parliament ended in disarray on Friday amid a dispute about the number of deputies present for the vote.The secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP), which boycotted Friday’s vote, said it would challenge the election in court because a quorum of MPs had not been obtained – a charge the AK (or Justice and Development Party) denies.\
[...]
If the court upholds the CHP position and cancels the presidential election, the ruling would trigger an early general election.
The business elite has called for an early general election to calm the tensions.
The AK, led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has an overwhelming majority in parliament.
That strikes me as a curious set of events: the lack of quorum for the presidential selection leads to new legislative elections. Regardless, N\new elections may end up be a way for the court to try and avoid a military coup.
Of course, if the AK is already the majority party in the legislature, one wonders if new elections will remedy the problem or not. While it is clear that there is a great deal of support for maintaining a clearly secular state in Turkey, there must be some significant support for the AK and their view, else the AK would not be in a position that it currently is in.
Technorati Tags: Turkey, the AK, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Abdullah Gul, Erdogan, Gul
April 30th, 2024 at 7:43 am
By the way, the President of Turkey has a right to decide who is going to be General Chief of Staff, the president of YOK (Council of Universities that can decide about headscarf issue) the president of the constitutional court,and many so many other important positions. That is why the issue became much more important than being a prime minister.
April 30th, 2024 at 9:48 am
I figured part of the issue was military appointments and I am aware that the headscarf issue is a big deal.
April 30th, 2024 at 3:37 pm
Steven, triggering an early election for parliament when the latter body fails to elect a president is not that unusual in parliamentary republics. Greece has similar provisions. I think (but would have to check) that Italy and the Czech Republic do, too. The idea is to prevent obstructionist opposition: come to an agreement or put your own seats at risk.
Of course, it is hard to see how a general election right now would “calm tensions.”
April 30th, 2024 at 7:00 pm
That’s not the part that I find odd–the part that I find odd is that it is a fight over quorum–and that lack of quorum during the vote would trigger a new election. Surely lack of quorum would mean that the vote couldn’t be taken, not that the vote failed–but I am perhaps not examining the situation carefully enough.