Opposition alliance to form working group for election safety

ANKARA

The leaders of six opposition parties have announced that they will form a working group for election safety as parliament is debating on a draft law that seeks to amend the electoral law.

“We have formed another working group in order to ensure election safety to fully reflect the national will to parliament, no matter the circumstances,” read a joint communiqué released after a third in-person meeting of the opposition leaders late on March 27.

Hosted by Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) chair Ali Babacan, the meeting convened Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Meral Akşener of the İYİ (Good) Party, Temel Karamollaoğlu of the Felicity Party, Gültekin Uysal of the Democrat Party and Ahmet Davutoğlu of the Future Party.

The communiqué said the leaders discussed the political developments in the past weeks, including the amendments on the electoral law, stressing, “We want our nation to know that our unity based on democratic principles will not be affected by such political engineering efforts. We are determined to continue our cooperation in harmony.”

The “political engineering” the statement mentions refers to the government-proposed amendments on the electoral law which reduces the national threshold from 10 to 7 percent and obliges the parties within alliances to individually pass the threshold to be able to gain seats at parliament. This move is seen to create difficulties for smaller parties within alliances.

The leaders stated that they formed another working group to work on the transition to the strengthened parliamentary system if they come to power in the next elections. The six parties have recently disclosed their proposal for a return to the parliamentary system in case they come to power.

Along with the economic problems that create difficulties for the nation, the leaders have also discussed the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying, “Stability and peace in our region have been threatened by the Russian Federation’s attack on Ukraine’s territorial integrity in violation of international law. This crisis has once again shown us the importance of a rational, consistent foreign policy that takes into account the medium and long-term strategic interests of our country.”