No plans for early elections after Turkey referendum, Deputy PM Şimşek says

ANKARA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has made it very clear that there are no plans to dissolve parliament and call for early elections before the 2019 polls, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek told Reuters in an interview on April 17.

“Yesterday the president made it very clear that elections will be held in November 2019,” he said. 

“It is very clear. We have work to do,” Şimşek said a day after Turks narrowly voted to change the constitution.

Some 51.3 percent of the more than 58 million Turkish voters said “yes” to the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) constitutional amendment package in a tight race to decide on whether to shift to an executive presidential system. 

The gap between the two votes stood at around 1.3 million, according to midnight figures by the state-run Anadolu Agency. The turnout exceeded 84 percent. 

Şimşek said the referendum results had a significant impact on the economy as the new period “gives five years to the administration to realize the required reforms.”

“After the referendum, the uncertainties have eased,” he said, adding that the economic growth would likely speed up in the medium-term. 

“If the economic growth is sustained through reforms in the medium-term, Turkey can go back to a high growth path again thanks to the political stability and the realized reforms in the long run,” said Şimşek. 

He noted that quitting the fiscal discipline was out of question.