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Spotlight: Turkey's ruling party heats up shift to presidential system

Xinhua, October 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will resume work for constitutional transition to a presidential system that will expand the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The AKP will submit its own draft constitution for parliament approval, including presidential system change, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Wednesday after an opposition leader signaled his party's support for referendum.

The draft comprises 60 articles that were earlier agreed by political parties at parliament, but the AKP will also finalize missing articles, local NTV reported.

"The parliament may approve it with 367 votes, or bring it to the public decision by garnering 330 votes or more," Yildirim added referring to a referendum for the constitutional change.

"Turkey must give the de facto situation a legal status. Our proposal is a system that will help state institutions work in harmony. We'll work in compatible to our president," he said.

The prime minister's statement came a day after Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli said that the final decision for a change in system should be given by the people at a referendum.

"We agree on Bahceli's call and we say that we will bring our constitutional proposal to the parliament as soon as possible," Yildirim stated.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy chairman Levent Gok accused the AKP and MHP of having "closed door consensus" on presidential system. "It's nonsense to bring an issue, whose debate already ended, to the agenda again," he said on Wednesday.

The AKP, having 317 deputies, lacks the parliamentary majority to bring a draft constitution to a popular referendum. Opposition parties, except MHP, are against the presidential system, while agreeing on the necessity to draft a new constitution.

Joint votes of the AKP and MHP amount to 357, but that is not enough for parliamentary approval of constitutional change which requires 367 votes to pass directly. Therefore a transition to a presidential system now seems possible only with popular referendum.

The AKP needs at least 330 votes in the 550-seat assembly to bring the constitutional change to popular referendum. Support by the MHP, having 40 seats at the parliament, can pave the way for bringing the constitutional amendment to the referendum without a major consensus among political parties.

There is no guarantee that a referendum on the presidential system will be favored by Turkish nationals.

Yet, a failed coup on July 15 in Turkey has further consolidated the power of President Erdogan making easier his ambition for an overhaul of the Turkish constitution that would give presidency many of the executive powers that traditionally belong to the prime minister. Endit