Independent Candidates Not Waste of Votes

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had used a rally in Agri, in the east of Turkey, to call on people not to vote for independent candidates. This actually shows how worried the mainstream parties are that independent candidates may succeed in circumventing the 10 percent electoral hurdle.

It is clear that independent candidates could change a lot. It is not surprising that there was unprecedented agreement between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) when a law was passed that would force independent candidates onto the same ballot paper as all the other parties, thus making them less easy to find then before, when they had separate ballot papers.

"Money thrown into the street"?

Erdogan likened a vote given to an independent candidate to "money thrown into the street". This is an argument which many former CHP supporters have expressed. They may be dissatisfied with the CHP, but feel that voting for anyone else would not be reflected in parliament.

In a previous interview with Prof. Dr. Baskin Oran, independent candidate of the left for Istanbul's second constituency, he had summarised the functions of independent candidates as follows:

1. The first aim is to change unquestioned attitudes. The mainstream parties are all uncritical of capitalist accumulation, neo-liberal politics and extensions of the military regime.

Issues ranging from the Kurdish issue to the environment, from trade union laws to conscientious objectors, from climate change to the rights of homosexuals and a change of the constitution put into place by the 1980 military junta, independent candidates can make human rights violations visible and change attitudes.

2. The second aim is to unite those with similar attitudes. Independent candidates will not be obliged to bow to party politics and can thus engage in dialogue with other MPs.

DTP votes will not be wasted this time

Because pro-Kurdish parties have always stumbled at the 10% hurdle, the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) will not waste its votes this time by entering the elections as a party. In the 2002 general elections it had been Erdogan's AKP which had benefited most from the DTP votes that had been shifted to the next-most powerful party in the relevant constitution.

The DTP is aiming to send 30 candidates into parliament. The shared independent candidate movement is hoping for at least 5 more candidates. This means that there may be more than 35 independent candidates in the next parliament.

The DTP might even form a group once the candidates are in parliament, and could thus also become a viable coalition partner. It is in this light that one should consider Erdogan's comments comparing the Bulgarian Movement for Freedoms and Rights (MFR) and the DTP (see yesterday's article). (TK/EÜ/AG/EÜ)