12 Independent Candidates Barred from General Election

The Supreme Election Board (YSK) rejected the candidacy applications of twelve independent MP candidates on Monday (18 April). Seven of the candidates are members of the Labour, Democracy and Freedom Block. All barred candidates were going to support the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) in the parliamentary elections on 12 June. The decision of the YSK fuelled massive protests in Istanbul, Turkey's capital Ankara and the south-eastern cities of Diyarbakır, Van, Batman and Mersin.

Political parties and non-governmental organizaitons condemned the "twelve vetoes" decided by the YSK and demanded to lift the decision immediately in order to avoid chaos in the country.

Kürkçü appealed

Ertuğrul Kürkçü, independent candidate of the Labour, Democracy and Freedom Block for Mersin, appealed the veto decision of the YSK on Tuesday (19 April).

Lawyer Mustafa Bayram Mısır submitted Kürkçü's petition to the YSK. The independent candidate demands to lift the decision and to publish his name on the final list of candidates. The other independent candidates of the Labour, Democracy and Freedom Block took similar actions.

Reactions

bianet summarized the reactions of the Socialist Democracy Party, the Republican People's Party, the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions, the Turkish Communist Party, the Equality and Democracy Party, the Peace Parliament and the Freedom and Solidarity Party as follows:

SDP: State conspiracy to constitute a new constitution without opposition

According to the Socialist and Democracy Party (SDP), the aim is to prevent the BDP from establishing a group despite the fact that the votes for the pro-Kurdish party significantly increased. A conspiracy of the government was planned to constitute the parliament, which is going to work out a new constitution, without a social opposition. These efforts of the ruling powers who want to oppress the will of the people will not be able to stop the struggle for freedom.

CHP: We support all sorts of constitutional amendments

The equity and justice of the 12 June general elections will be severely harmed,  Istanbul MP Çetin Soysal of the Republican People's Party (CHP) criticized. The CHP supports all kinds of legal and constitutional amendments including the lowering of the (ten percent) election threshold that can be done to solve this problem.

DİSK: We are deeply concerned about this trend

The Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DİSK) claimed that this decision was entirely politically motivated. The ban raised doubts among the public and cast a cloud over the election period. The polarization imposed on our country by the Justice and Development Party (AKP), the raids and intimidating operations and the empire of fear that is advancing step by step fuel concern. We will not remain mute and silent in the face of these developments.

TKP: People will not accept a democracy with a veto

Turkish Communist Party (TKP) stated that also some of their candidates got their share of the remote veto mechanism because they were democratic. The Kurdish question will be sifted by the veto mechanisms of the ruling power. Obviously, the Kurdish question will be handled without the Kurds and even more important without the left. Tayyip Erdoğan will now add a "democracy with a veto" with the YSK. The people are not going to accept this.

EDP: The burden of this decision is very heavy

The Equality and Democracy Party (EDP) indicated that the legitimacy of the elections, of the parliament to be constituted and of the work that is going to be carried out in this new parliament has to be questioned with the decision of the YSK. This decision will destroy the social peace and its burden is very heavy. The YSK has to refrain from precipitating the country into chaos. A solution must be found be re-evaluating this political decision.

Peace Parliament: Peace is put on risk

We are experiencing many examples that show to which extend the judiciary of this country has been politicized and became dependent, the Peace Parliament argued. Taking refuge behind the "independency of the judiciary" and making the decision of the YKS commonplace clearly sabotages peace in Turkey. Nobody, including the political power will be able to overcome the result and the toll this decision is going to cause. While the day of the election is coming nearer, the Turkish Parliament should convene immediately and make the necessary legal amendments first of all regarding Law No. 2839 (Law on Basic Provisions on Elections and Voter Registers). The election threshold should be lifted.

ÖDP: No chance for democratization

This insistence is not legal, the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP) criticized. It is a deliberate political preference that shows a blow on the elections directed at the democratic forces. Our party was vetoed by the YSK before. Our 20 colleagues who were prosecuted and imprisoned after the fascist coup on 12 September 1980 thought well about their candidacy beforehand. Turkey has got no chance for democratization with this election law. It was shown once more that the actual issue is the struggle against the 12 September Constitution and the corresponding institutions is the issue of the forces of labour, peace, freedom and solidarity.

Massive protests and police intervention

Demonstrators gathered on Istanbul's centrally located Taksim Square on Monday (19 April) and walked all the way down to the Aksaray district to protest the YSK decision.

In the course of the demonstration, some of the demonstrators threw a Molotov cocktail at an election campaign vehicle of the AKP. Fire broke out in a post office. A notary's office and a public bus were attacked. Many people got injured.

The demonstrators continued their protest with a sit-down strike when they arrived at the 'Democratic Solution Tent'. The protest was supported by the BDP, the EDP and the Labour Party (EMEP). (NV/EÖ/AS/VK)