Erdoğan adds to election date confusion
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Hürriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 25, 2009 00:00
ANKARA - Despite the tenure of Parliament being reduced from five years to four in 2007, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan showed even he was confused about just when the next s general elections would be held.
"We should walk into the future more strongly. And I believe that the will of the people, shown in the next general elections in 2011 or in 2012, will be important," Erdoğan said Saturday during a party meeting in Düzce, a nearby city of Istanbul. When asked later by reporters what he meant he said: "I said that because we are not the ones who decide on this (the election date),"
After the general election held July 22, 2007, Parliament reduced the tenures of both Parliament and the president, making the former four years and the latter five years but included the chance to be re-elected for a second term through popular vote. According to these changes, the next general elections should be held in July 2011, and the popular vote in August 2012.
Elected before amendment
However, some ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, members argue that the current Parliament and president should be exempt from these amendments as they were elected before the amendments took place. With his first statement on the issue, Erdoğan confirmed his own confusion.
For the opposition, this is a clear u-turn of the ruling party, especially after the unexpected eight-point drop in votes for the AKP in the last local elections. "Parliamentary elections will be held at the latest in 2011 and the presidential vote in 2012," Deniz Baykal, leader of the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, has said before, echoing Devlet Bahçeli, head of the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP.
Not only the opposition but Parliament Speaker Köksal Toptan, too, disagrees with his own party members on the timing of the two elections. "There is no ambiguity on this issue. The tenure of Parliament is four years and the president is five," he said last week.
According to the constitution, the Supreme Election Board, or YSK makes all the arrangements for the elections. The date of the elections will be decided by the court, whose rulings cannot be appealed, following internal deliberations.
The AKP brass was shocked when it saw the party’s popularity decline in the March 29 local elections for the first time since 2002 when it came to power. It is believed that the election results also led Erdoğan to reshuffle his Cabinet.
After the general election held July 22, 2007, Parliament reduced the tenures of both Parliament and the president, making the former four years and the latter five years but included the chance to be re-elected for a second term through popular vote. According to these changes, the next general elections should be held in July 2011, and the popular vote in August 2012.
Elected before amendment
However, some ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, members argue that the current Parliament and president should be exempt from these amendments as they were elected before the amendments took place. With his first statement on the issue, Erdoğan confirmed his own confusion.
For the opposition, this is a clear u-turn of the ruling party, especially after the unexpected eight-point drop in votes for the AKP in the last local elections. "Parliamentary elections will be held at the latest in 2011 and the presidential vote in 2012," Deniz Baykal, leader of the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, has said before, echoing Devlet Bahçeli, head of the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP.
Not only the opposition but Parliament Speaker Köksal Toptan, too, disagrees with his own party members on the timing of the two elections. "There is no ambiguity on this issue. The tenure of Parliament is four years and the president is five," he said last week.
According to the constitution, the Supreme Election Board, or YSK makes all the arrangements for the elections. The date of the elections will be decided by the court, whose rulings cannot be appealed, following internal deliberations.
The AKP brass was shocked when it saw the party’s popularity decline in the March 29 local elections for the first time since 2002 when it came to power. It is believed that the election results also led Erdoğan to reshuffle his Cabinet.