Baku, Azerbaijan, June 8
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:
Early parliamentary election in Turkey is quite likely, Paul Levin, director at Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies (SUITS) told Trend.
Turkey held parliamentary election June 7, involving 20 political parties. As many as 53,765,231 people took part in the voting. As a result, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) gathered 40.9 percent of votes, Republican People's Party (CHP) - 25 percent, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) - 16.3 percent, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) - 13.1 percent. Thus, the Justice and Development Party won't be able to form a government by its own.
"Right now, there seems to be no possibility for any majority coalition, so either something has to give, or there will be an early election after the 45 days allotted for the forming of a government have expired," said the expert.
Levin added that all three opposition parties have rejected the possibility of joining a coalition led by the Justice and Development Party.
One of them - the Nationalist Movement Party - also seems to have excluded joining a three-party coalition with the other two opposition parties, he said. "It remains to be seen if the Justice and Development Party can receive passive support from either the Nationalist Movement Party or Republican People's Party."
Levin added that even if a coalition government is formed, it is likely to be a weak government and therefore, early election would remain a possibility.
If the Justice and Development Party can manage to gain the support of the pro-Kurdish HDP, they could continue the peace process between the Turkish government and the Kurdistan Peoples' Party (PKK), according to the expert.
If the Justice and Development Party on the other hand turns to the Nationalist Movement Party for support, the peace process will take a serious blow from which it may not recover, Levin added.
"But both of these alternatives would require a complete reversal from the respective party leaderships, so they are far from likely," the expert said.
Edited by SI
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