Opposition ups pressure on parliamentary speaker over Turkish PM’s tenure

ANKARA

President-elect Erdoğan leaves a polling booth to cast his ballot during presidential elections in Istanbul. REUTERS Photo

The absence of the official publication of the final results of the Aug. 10 presidential election has led to the opposition claiming that the Prime Ministry is conducting “official censorship.”

Meanwhile, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) formally appealed to the Parliament Speaker’s Office on Aug. 19 to end President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s membership of Parliament, in line with the Constitution.

Although the final results of the Aug. 10 election, which saw Erdoğan win by 52 percent, were announced by the Supreme Election Board (YSK) on Aug. 15 and the president-elect mandate was consecutively handed over to the Parliament speaker by the YSK president, the results have yet to be published by the Official Gazette.

The Official Gazette is published by the Directorate General of Development of Legislation and Publication, which is a body working under the Prime Ministry.

MHP Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair Oktay Vural recalled that Article 101 of the Constitution states: “If the president-elect is a member of a party, his/her relationship with his party shall be severed and his/her membership in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey shall cease.”

Accordingly, Erdoğan’s membership of Parliament should be terminated by Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek, Vural said.

“The publication of the election results is being blocked by Erdoğan and the government,” main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Atilla Kart also said on Aug. 18.

Kart filed criminal complaints against executives at the Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office, against the Prime Ministry’s Directorate General of the Development of Legislation and Publication, arguing that the directorate was “fulfilling unlawful orders and instructions.”