The shenanigans of the ‘minority government’

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he was not against a “minority government;” to our surprise, what he is against is actually a “permanent minority government.”

Maybe he is making calculations to add one more new performance to his corpus of circumventing the constitution. That is because if a coalition government is not formed and the president rules for an early election, then in the temporary election government to be formed, cabinet ministers will be appointed from each party according to their number of deputies.      

He indeed does not want to hold elections with such a government. This is because if elections are held with such a government, he knows that he will not be able to use the entire means of the state for his own election propaganda. Other partners will get involved, and he will have to say goodbye to the political rallies that were organized under the pretense of opening ceremonies, with the money that belongs to the nation. 

Also, during the period leading to early elections, in those ministries that would be ruled by members of other parties, what kind of foul will be discovered is impossible to guess. As a matter of fact, it is not difficult to guess what will come out of these ministries, which were excellent at “doing business” over the past 13 years. 

They cannot take this risk, and this is one of the reasons behind the reluctance at forming a coalition government.

It looks as if Erdoğan will approve a minority government formed by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and will leave the matter to parliament. 

If the government gains a vote of confidence, then well. For it to gain a vote of confidence, it is enough to receive one more confidence vote than negative votes. 

Actually, if we assume that the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) would act as it did during the election of the parliamentary speaker and the “terror research commission,” then it is possible for it to gain a vote of confidence. 

If the government does not receive a vote of confidence, then what he will do next is also apparent. Erdoğan will not make the decision to dissolve the parliament; it will be parliament itself that will rule for an early election. 

Thus, this minority government will hold another election using all the means of the state. Starting from the state institution Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) all the way to governors, everybody and every institution will be at its service; the state budget will be spent on an election campaign.

If you ask whether the opposition parties will fall into this trap, my answer is this: 

There is one opposition party among all that is ready to cooperate with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and that party will embrace such an idea with no hesitation.