Politics Focus on General Elections

Turkish parliament failed to elect a president for a second round, as the main opposition party continued to boycott the candidature of the current Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdullah Gul.

Following the void attempt, Gul declared the withdrawal of his candidature. "I see that it's in vain continuing such rounds of presidential elections and it's damaging the integrity of the parliament", he said.

Last week the Constitutional Court ruled that at least 367 MPs must be present at the 550-seat national assembly to proceed to the presidential elections. Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) only has 352 and eventhough it's a strong majority, the party won't be able to choose its candidate.

Having seen the Court's ruling, PM Erdoğan announced early elections, which is promptly scheduled for July 22.

AKP wants to enforce changes in the constitution until then, making the public directly elect the next president of the republic.

While all opposition parties welcomed the early elections, the preposition for a public vote for the president has faced harsh reaction. Critics say that this would mean a fundamental change in the political system and shouldn't be rushed.

"Republican meetings"

On another account, the so-called "republican meetings" continued last weekend, with thousands rushing to streets in Aegean cities of Çanakkale and Manisa.

Both demonstrations were copies of the two precedents, organized in Ankara on April 14 and in Istanbul on April 29.

Some 400 NGO's, mainly Kemalist organizations called for the demonstrations, in an attempt to discourage the ruling AKP's candidate being elected as president.

The demonstrators see the party's Islamist background as a concrete threat to the secular state.

As the Constitutional Court's ruling blocked any chance of electing a president by this parliament, now crowds began voicing demands for coming general elections.

The common urge is that all parties center left and right should meet under two fronts, constituting a strong alternative to the AKP.

The True Path Party (DYP) and the Motherland Party (ANAP) declared that that join as one under the tag of Democrat Party (DP).

The name has strong connotations, as it was the first to hold power after the founding Republican People's Party (CHP) during the 50s.

On the other hand, leaders of the social democrat CHP and deceased former PM Ecevit's Democratic Left Party (DSP) have begun talks for joining forces in elections.(EÜ)