JUNE 8 (Reuters) — Turkey’s government gathered for an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday (June 8) after the ruling AK Party failed to win a majority in Sunday’s (June 7) parliamentary election, dealing a devastating blow to President Tayyip Erdogan’s dream of boosting his powers.
AK will try to form a coalition government as its first option after losing its parliamentary majority, but an early election could be on the cards if it fails to do so, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told journalists after the meeting.
“I believe that the President will give the duty of forming the government to the leader of AK Party, the party which came first, as part of democratic custom. I believe our Prime Minister will be able to form the government within the mandatory time that will satisfy everyone,” Kurtulmus said.
Constitutionally the party will have 45 days to form the government. If they fail the president is authorised to call an early election.
“It is important that democracy has been improved in a multi-party system one way or another in the past five years. That is one of the best results of yesterday’s election. Turkey has a mature democracy. Therefore a coalition will definitely come out of this maturity. (There is) the merest chance (of an) early election,” Kurtulmus added.
The outcome left the party which Erdogan founded unable to govern alone for the first time since it came to power almost 13 years ago. It faces potentially weeks of difficult coalition negotiations with reluctant opposition parties as it tries to form a stable government.
AKP’s support dropped 9 points to 40.9 percent from 2011.
