İYİ Party launches election manifesto, promises return to parliamentary system

ANKARA

İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener on May 30 unveiled her party’s election manifesto, pledging to return Turkey to the parliamentary system with a new constitution if she wins the June 24 elections. 

“We will take the initiative to write a new constitution that will pave way for the return to a strengthened parliamentary system that embraces all sections of the society,” Akşener said.

Akşener also promised to lower the election threshold from 10 percent to 5 percent.

She vowed to reveal the “political wing” of the Gülen network, the group believed to have been behind the July 2016 coup attempt.

Akşener stressed İYİ Party will reassess ties with the European Union and accelerate negotiations for accession talks.

“We will make efforts to resolve disputes and improve our relations with neighboring countries. We will take necessary precautions to prevent our country from being affected by problems such as terrorism and immigration caused by instability within our geography,” she said.

İYİ Party will lift the state of emergency and renew media in Turkey, she promised, noting that they wanted to privatize the Turkish Radio and Television Organization (TRT).

She promised transparency in public service works and said her government will not allow any group to infiltrate and establish a structure within the state.

“We will remove pay inequality in the public sector,” she said, while adding that they wanted to increase the wages of police officers and teachers by removing the current system, which pays based on performance.

“In the first six months of our rule, we will set up a legal framework that fights against corruption by issuing laws on transparency and political morality in the public service,” she noted.