CHP warm to idea of 18-year-old lawmakers

ANKARA

The required age to be a lawmaker is currently 25, however PM Erdoğan called Oct. 5 for a reduction in the age restrictions for parliamentary candidates.

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) is in favor of an idea to lower the required age to be a lawmaker from 25 to 18, according to CHP sources. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called Oct. 5 for a reduction in the age restrictions for parliamentary candidates, prompting a delegation led by Nurettin Canikli, the AKP’s deputy parliamentary group chair, to hold meetings yesterday with deputies from the CHP and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Citing the principle of democracy and equality, the CHP’s Akif Hamzeçebi told the AKP delegation that they were favorable on the proposal, the Hürriyet Daily News learned. The MHP’s Mehmet Şandır, meanwhile, said they would have to discuss the issue at length since it was not in their party’s election manifesto. The CHP’s positive attitude came despite earlier remarks by CHP deputy chair Gürsel Tekin to the contrary. “Our youth face the problems of poverty, unemployment and education. Erdoğan cannot even tolerate youth’s thoughts,” Tekin told the Daily News on Oct. 5.