Bahçeli sees threshold as too high, opposes early elections
CHAIRMAN of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Devlet Bahçeli reignited a decades-old debate Wednesday in Turkey’s political arena as he called for the re-evaluation of the 10 percent national election threshold, moving away from the MHP’s traditional stance on the issue.
Speaking with the media in his parliamentary office in Ankara, Bahçeli said the 10 percent threshold was too high for Turkey.
The threshold, along with the highest averages method known as the D’Hondt method, was introduced with the 1982 Constitution adopted in a referendum following the 1980 military coup.
It was designed to prevent political instability. The former system of proportional representation, introduced with the 1961 Constitution, led to the fragile coalition governments of the 1970s, and small or fringe political parties, including the MHP, often gained too much power in the Cabinet due to gruesome coalition negotiations.
Although the threshold prevented the MHP from winning a single seat in Parliament in four elections — in the 1987 election only winning 2.9 percent as the Nationalist Labor Party (MÇP), in 1991 running under the Welfare Party, in 1995 8.18 percent and in 2002 gathering 8.36 percent — the party was a fervent proponent of the same mechanism to curb pro-Kurdish or pro-PKK parties from entering Parliament.
Bahçeli said they had been in favor of the threshold in the past to prevent “secessionist elements” from being represented in Parliament, but it was overcome a number of times by alliances or other methods.
The MHP chairman said a comprehensive study should be carried out to solve this issue in a democratic way and put Turkey on track for stability and normalization.
“It’s time we looked into whether it should be 5 percent, like in Western democracies, 7 percent or left unchanged,” Bahçeli said.
Bahçeli’s remarks came as former MHP dissidents and a number of other political figures officially launched the Good Party in late October, under the leadership of former Interior Minister and MHP lawmaker Meral Akşener.
Following the launch, a number of surveys found that the MHP would likely fall below the election threshold.
Regarding the polls, Bahçeli said these surveys are simply tools used to mold public opinion.
“The MHP doesn’t have a threshold issue,” Bahçeli said.
Bahçeli added that the MHP respects the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) call for snap elections but does not support the idea.
He said it would be better for the CHP to engage in dialogue with the government before making such issues public.
“Other kinds of opposition don’t bear fruit. They only create tension, fuel polarization and don’t produce any benefits for the country,” he noted.
CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu called for snap elections after six city mayors from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) resigned from their posts in late October.