‘Amendment to Turkey’s Election Law must be taken to Constitutional Court’

* Photo: Archive / AA

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The General Assembly of the Parliament, in a vote on March 31, has accepted the amendment to the Law on Elections and Political Parties in line with the legislative proposal of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

Releasing a statement about the legal amendment poised to be in effect at the general elections in 2023, the Election Security Platform for Fair Elections, an umbrella platform for a series of rights, labor and occupational groups, has recalled that the amendments to be introduced to the law were debated at the General Assembly for 3 days.

Sharing its observations with the public, the Election Security Platform has underlined that "while the spokespersons of the opposition parties made important statements during the debates at the Committee and the Parliament, no efforts were made to ensure that these statements were shared with the public and the voter base could access them.

According to the platform, the fact that the draft article 13 of the bill pertaining to the neighborhood heads was removed from the proposal and the proceedings as to updating of the voter rolls changed from a year before the elections to three months before the elections shows that some things could change at the Parliament. The platform has commented:

By taking these into consideration, the proposal could have been improved and efforts could have been made to turn this antidemocratic proposal into a democratic one by ensuring that parties fully participated in the debates and acted together.

The Election Security Platform has noted that "when the minutes of the General Assembly and the statements to the press are viewed, it is seen that the opposition is already of the opinion that the government will leave and, for this reason, the amendments were not taken seriously".

Sharing further observations about the vote taken at the General Assembly, the platform has raised concerns that the legislative proposal was not subject to an open-ballot voting and it was not ensured that the MPs cast electronic votes, except for one article. "That being the case, the ones who caused such a big change were not registered," it has underlined further.

The platform has stated, "In addition to the failure of the 8 of the 14 parties to join the debates at the Committee, the low number of opposition MPs who were present at the General Assembly of the Parliament was striking. It would have been beneficial for the public to be informed if the party chairs had been at the General Assembly and participated in the vote".

'A blow to election security'

The Election Security Platform for Fair Elections has stressed that with the new election law, Turkey has adopted a "worse and more unfair electoral system and a serious blow has been dealt to the security of the election process as well as the election security."

Reiterating its previous observations, the platform has indicated:

We find it extremely dangerous in terms of a fair and safe election that a regulation that will serve as a provincial electoral threshold and usurp the right of representation of others by offering a privilege to the first party has been introduced; the senior judges will be eliminated; the electoral bans previously imposed on ministers and the prime minister will not be the case for the President and everything abused by the President at the previous elections has just been turned into a legal right.

In doing this, the platform has referred to the 2018 general elections, during which President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan "himself put inequality into practice in several spheres such as the campaign budget, treasury grant, durations of the talks at the state channel TRT, TV ads and the use of public funds".

'Take it to the Constitutional Court'

Against this backdrop, the platform has stressed that "opposition political parties, civil society organizations and citizens will have important duties in the upcoming period". Noting that the exemption of the President from electoral bans is against the Constitution, the platform has underlined that the law must be taken to the Constitutional Court for this reason.

It has also noted that "it will be more valuable" if the application to the top court is jointly made by all parties. "Citizens and civil society organizations must watch the process closely and convey their opinions to political parties," the Election Security Platform has added further.

Concluding its statement, the platform has emphasized that the cooperation of all opposition parties on the local level will be of crucial importance to ensure election safety following the legal amendment.

The undersigned / Platform members: DİSK / KESK / TMMOB / TTB / SODEV / Alevi Bektashi Federation (ABF) / Association for Monitoring Equal Rights / Rights Initiative Association / Human Rights Association / Union of Ankara University Political Science Graduates / METU Alumni Association / Anıtpark Forum / Anti-Capitalist Muslims / Unity for Democracy (DİB) / East and Southeast Associations Platform (DGD) / Rights and Justice Platform / Not Without You Movement / Citizens' Initiative (TP/SD)