TURKISH PARLIAMENT ELECTS NEW SPEAKER
The lawmakers of Turkey’s 25th parliament on June 1 fulfilled their first duty to select a new parliament speaker. The new speaker was announced after the last of four rounds of voting. Governing Justice and Development Party candidate Ismet Yilmaz was elected as the speaker of the new parliament, receiving 258 votes out of a total of 550. Republican People’s Party candidate Deniz Baykal gained 182 votes. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu from the Nationalist Movement Party and Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party were eliminated in the third round of voting.
RESULT SIGNALS COALITION DEADLOCK
The parliament speaker’s election was seen as a rehearsal for forming a coalition. In this respect the results have not been positive. Turkey’s opposition parties were expected to agree upon one candidate against the governing AK Party as together they have the majority of lawmakers in parliament and enough votes to elect a candidate in the first round. However, no agreement was made on a speaker between these parties and the situation led the AK Party’s candidate to win the post. The nationalist MHP has been accused of helping the AK Party by not voting for the CHP’s candidate in the last round. In response MHP leader Devlet Bahceli claimed that the CHP has been attempting to form a coalition with the AK Party. The pro-Kurdish HDP seems to be willing to help any coalition scenario not involving the AK Party. However, the MHP has a position of no political cooperation with HDP. This suggests that any coalition will likely involve the AK Party.
COALITION NEGOTIATIONS BEGIN
With the completion of the process of electing a parliamentary speaker, the first serious initiatives aimed at forming a coalition are expected to begin. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to start the 45-day long official negotiation periods by first giving a mandate to form a government to Prime Minister and AK Party leader Ahmet Davutoglu early next week. The AK Party has an open-door policy towards all political parties for forming a coalition. The opposition’s response to the AK Party’s initiatives will be watched closely. If none of the parties are able to form a coalition within 45 days, the president will call for an early election under the rule of the interim government.
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