Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday said his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) would continue the Public Alliance with nationalist parties in parliament, warning his party about ensuring success in the local elections in 2019
Erdoğan and the AKP had formed the Public Alliance with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and Grand Unity Party (BBP) before the presidential and parliamentary elections on June 24.
Turkey’s election board on July 4 confirmed the AKP won 295 seats in the parliamentary election, falling slightly short of an outright majority. The MHP took 49 seats, giving the ruling party-led group a majority in parliament.
“We will continue the Public Alliance in parliament due to our number of deputies and the situation our country has been going through,” Erdoğan said, speaking to provincial chairmen at AKP headquarters in Ankara.
Calling on his party, whose support dropped from 49.49 percent in the Nov 1, 2015 elections to 42.56 percent in the June 24 elections, to examine the election results and take necessary steps ahead of local elections in March 2019, Erdoğan said he was launching a “Municipality of the Heart” campaign to last until local the elections.
Erdoğan also targeted the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) for helping the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) pass the 10 percent threshold and secure seats in parliament.
“The CHP directed some of its supporters to carry the party [HDP], which is guided by a terrorist organization [the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK)], over election threshold,” Erdoğan said, adding: “We call on each CHP supporter who loves his country, nation, republic and state, to hold the party administration to account for this shame.”
On June 24, the CHP won 146 seats in parliament, remaining the main opposition party, while the HDP retained its position as the second largest opposition party with 67 seats.
Due to the HDP’s success in surpassing the threshold, Erdoğan’s AKP lost its majority in parliament.