Ruling AKP about to complete draft bill on election law

ANKARA

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is about to complete drafting bills to amend the Election Law and Law on Political Parties which foresee reducing the current 10 percent election threshold to 7 percent, daily Milliyet has reported.

The AKP’s central executive board (MYK) is expected to convene under the leadership of President and AKP chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on May 26 to finalize the drafted amendments.

A commission led by Deputy AKP leader Hayati Yazıcı has long been working on the bills which will be presented to the members of the MYK for a broad discussion. According to the reports, the AKP aims to reduce the national election threshold to seven percent and adjust the election law in line with the fact that the political parties can run in the elections as alliances.

The new Election Law will also regulate how to count the votes of the political parties running in an alliance and whether these votes will be subject to the national election threshold.

There are currently two alliances poised to compete for the presidential and parliamentary elections slated for June 2023, the People’s Alliance of the AKP and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Nation Alliance of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), the İYİ (Good) Party, the Democrat Party and the Felicity Party. The latter is hoping to expand with the participation of the Future Party and the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA).

In the event of an approval of Yazıcı’s drafts by the MYK, they will be handed to the MHP and later to the other political parties represented in parliament.

New constitution on agenda

The MYK will also discuss the ongoing work for a new civilian constitution as promised by Erdoğan early this year. Another team is working on the AKP’s constitutional draft as the MHP has already concluded its work and handed it to the ruling party for deliberations.

The two parties are expected to form a new commission to study each other’s drafts and to introduce a compromised single text of the People’s Alliance.