Compromise between the AK Party and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has been reached to lower the election threshold to 7% from 10% after months of negotiations and studies conducted by a commission established by the People’s Alliance for amending the Election Law. “Actually, 7% has become apparent. Our colleagues haven’t taken the final decision taken by our MHP colleagues. Whether it will be below this or not hasn’t been submitted to us yet,” said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, making the first statement about the election threshold during his visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Following Erdogan’s statement, MHP Leader Devlet Bahceli said the People’s Alliance’s election threshold has been registered as 7%. Thus, he has put an end to the issue.
“The debate whether the election threshold is 5% or 7% is an unnecessary waste of effort,” Bahceli added. The two main parties of the People’s Alliance held sincere and well-meaning talks about the election system and the threshold rate in an established commission, according to Bahceli. “Our President has announced to the press accompanying him on his presidential airplane following his visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro that the threshold will be 7%,” he said, stressing that no further examination is required.
The amendments to the Law on Political Parties and Elections on which the People’s Alliance continues to work, is expected to be one of the primary agenda items of the Parliament when it is back in session on October 1. Rumors are that the ‘narrowed area’ and ‘intra alliance threshold’ issues proposed by the MHP will not be added to the agenda. The requirement to receive 3% votes in order to receive treasury grants will remain.
ELECTION THRESHOLD IS OBJECTED
The decision has sparked some debate. The Republican People’s Party (CHP) described any threshold as an affront to democracy in a Presidential System and says it should be abolished altogether. The People’s Democratic Party (HDP) interpreted the protection of the election threshold as an effort of the AK Party to maintain its grip on power and also insisted that the threshold should be lifted.
The People’s Alliance is losing voters, according to IYI Party Group Deputy Chair Lutfu Turkkan. “As the People’s Alliance witnesses a decline in its votes, it continues struggling to remain in power and shape politics. That’s why they want to hold an early election before their votes further decline,” he said. “They’re making a concerted effort effort to submit the Election Law as soon as the Parliament is back in session on October 1, because amendments to election laws can’t be implemented for elections to be held within a year,” he noted. As Turkkan says, the People’s Alliance wants to lean towards this law in the election to be held as of November 2022, if the Election Law is enacted in October. “That’s why I say once again. 2022 won’t end without an election,” he added.