A new party in Turkish politics and its possible impact on current political picture
The administrating authority in Turkey has been in the hands of AK PARTI for much longer than a decade now thanks to the leadership skills (as perceived by his supporters and rather fans) of current president ERDOGAN who carries out the dduty of AK Party chairman, at the same time. It goes without saying the country has experienced major changes in all walks of life regarded as good or bad depending on different evaluations and lived through extremely strange developments to include a failed coup attempt in 2016. The population has virtually been divided into two as ERDOĞAN supporters (no matter at what cost and despite anything at all) and those who dislike him strongly.
After the presidential referendum which was subject to a major conflict as the election authority amended the prevailing rules in favor of the ruling party hours before the election came to an end – possibly paving the way to a very narrow victory for Ak Parti – it became much more clear to millions of citizens (supporting opposition) that Turkish politics was indeed in need of a new formation to change the mathematics written by the ruling party in Turkish politics, for many years now.
MHP (Nationalist Movement Party) on the other hand which has incurred major loss of support due to the unexpected, awkward and to be more specific incoherent changes in policies followed by its leader in support of the ruling administration – very much on the contrary to the discourse followed earlier – has lost further altitude after sticking to an unfavorable policy of discarding its members for opposing the party leader and his conduct, simply.
Among those opposing MHP administration because the party has lost major support in votes, Ms MERAL AKŞENER (a deputy and interior minister, in the past) stands out to be the most powerful and popular figure and a true prospect for the leadership chair of the nationalist movement, with a major support of the MHP electorate. Eventually, Ms. AKSENER has decided to establish a new party by the end of October 2017 – as MHP administration has closed every possible door for a struggle within the party – and proceed on her way under the wings of a new party together with many colleagues who have resigned from MHP and several other prominent politicians with good reputation in public eye.
Ms. AKSENER obviously counts on the strong prospect that a considerable majority of MHP electorate not pleased with policies of current administration will be a solid support for the new party to come into the game and moreover many votes from CHP and mainly AK Parti are also expected to be used in support of the newcomer.
As Ms AKSENER targets, the consequences of this new formation – if successful certainly – could be putting an end to the absolute domination of AK Parti and the hope and possibility of shifting the country in the direction of an agreeable parliamentary regime with separated powers, practicing a genuine check-and-balance system again, rather than “a single-man rule” (executive presidential system, as Ak Parti names it).
If Ms. AKSENER is successful, to put MHP out of the game and change the parliamentary arithmetic in favor of the opposition, it could be a major concern for the ruling party and their further plans to bring in a new regime.
On the other hand, the presidential elections due to take place in 2019 could be another nightmare for the current administration if the new party to be announced soon, could make a good start and have a bigger statement to make at the time of the elections in 2019. That is, if current president were not to be elected by any chance in said election, the picture would be much more awkward for the AK Party and certainly nothing to be longed for, as the solid power this time – which they have struggled to make it happen all along – would be in the hands of some candidate from opposition… and goes without saying that would be an issue to think about for the ruling power.
