Bill paving way for Turkish 'strongman' presidency passes first vote in parliament

Bill paving way for Turkish 'strongman' presidency passes first vote in parliament
Critics say the bill will give President Recep Tayyip Erdogan authoritarian powers. / Photo: CC
By bne IntelliNews January 16, 2017

The controversial constitutional amendment bill that lays the ground for an executive presidency in Turkey completed its first phase of approval on January 15 in the Ankara parliament.

The second and final phase is expected to commence on January 18, after which the 18-article bill will be presented to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his assent. Following the president's approval of the legislation - which critics have warned will give him authoritarian powers - Turkey plans to hold a referendum on the legislative proposals, probably in April. 

The bill was jointly proposed by Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), of which Erdogan is a founder, and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). The AKP insists Turkey needs a "Turkish-type" strong executive presidency to take on the challenges posed by terrorism, the war in Syria and a deteriorating economy, among other difficulties. Its 18 articles and the whole bill combined received between 338 and 347 votes during the first-phase voting, indicating that some nationalist MHP MPs voted against the proposed legislation. The MHP has previously stated that it would back the ruling party’s initiative.

The AKP has 317 seats in parliament, while the MHP has 39, meaning the two parties are capable of forming a winning ultra-nationalist coalition. The bill needs the support of at least 330 deputies in the parliamentary second round to be put to a referendum.

Some MPs from MHP had openly declared that they would vote against the amendment in the first phase while some others were also expected to secretly vote against it. The current constitution requires that constitutional amendment votes should be voting on by secret ballot in the parliament. However, MPs from the AKP and MHP were accused of interfering with secret voting processes. Amid opposition protests, there were scuffles and fistfights in parliament

During the first round, President Erdogan, MHP leader Devlet Bahceli and Mustafa Sentop, an AKP lawmaker and head of parliament’s constitutional committee, suggested that an early general election should be held if parliament failed to approve the bill. The opposition claimed that the idea of a snap poll was put forward to intimidate MPs into voting in favour of the amendment bill to avoid the prospect of losing their seats before the current parliamentary term runs its course in 2019. However, Yusuf Halacoglu, one of the MHP deputies among the rebels who declared that they would vote against the amendment package, suggested that the AKP planned to hold a snap poll in the autumn of this year in any case.

The ruling AKP might well believe it could capture a larger share of the vote in such a poll and thus obtain enough seats in parliament to change the constitution regardless of which way opposition MPs vote.

The main opposition CHP and the pro-Kurdish HDP also support a snap poll. HDP’s co-leaders, many MPs and local government politicians are currently in jail. If either HDP or MHP was to fall below the 10% threshold in the election results, the governing AKP would have the opportunity to form the required majority in parliament to change the constitution without relying on any alliances.

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