MHP sticks to 50+1 election rule, presidential system: Leader 

ANKARA

It is futile and baseless to launch a discussion about the election rule of 50 percent plus one vote for electing the president, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader has said, reiterating its loyalty to the People’s Alliance with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). 

“The election rule of 50 percent plus one vote is the axis of the presidential government system. Therefore, discussing [changing this rule] is unnecessary and baseless,” MHP chair Devlet Bahçeli said in his weekly address to his parliamentary group on Nov. 16. 

Bahçeli’s words come after Cemil Çiçek, a veteran AKP politician who is now serving as a member of the Presidency High Advisory Board, suggested that sticking to 50 percent plus one vote rule can cause serious political problems and may drag Turkey into chaos in the future. 

The MHP leader strongly slammed Çiçek, recalling that the need for shifting the system into executive-presidential model came to the fore in the aftermath of the July 2016 coup attempt by FETÖ. 

“Turkish people voted in favor of the 50 percent plus one vote for political stability and to avoid chaos,” he stated. 
Bahçeli rejected the claims that there is a crack between the AKP and the MHP over a number of issues, saying, “Although we are not a part of the government and we have no ministers in the cabinet, the MHP shares good deeds of the People’s Alliance.”

“I have no tension with our, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. On the contrary, we have good dialogue, trust and respect to each other,” Bahçeli added.