AKP prepares for early elections?

PanARMENIAN.Net - Even though the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has publicly ruled out the possibility of early elections, the party has spoken to bureaucrats at the Supreme Election Board (YSK) and asked its deputies to be prepared for an early election this fall, Today’s Zaman reported.

A senior AK Party official who asked not to be named also confirmed that the party is not thinking of holding elections ahead of time but noted that they are preparing for the possibility. The same person said they are ready to consider early elections as an option if something unexpected takes place this summer.

Sources say the AK Party is likely to call early elections if the Constitutional Court annuls one or more provisions of a constitutional reform package sponsored by the government. Some even go as far as giving a specific date for the early election this fall.

If the Constitutional Court blocks a referendum on a government constitutional reform package, it will have done to the country the same thing done by coup d’etat generals, the court’s rapporteur said.

Constitutional Court Rapporteur Osman Can has clarified his recent statement, found controversial by some segments of society. Can said the government should ignore the ruling of the Constitutional Court on the constitutional reform package and refer it to the people anyway, if the court rules to annul it, saying the high court does not have the authority to cancel the content of laws.

The Constitutional Court earlier this month accepted a petition filed by the main opposition CHP against the government’s amendment package, which was passed in May. The court said it would review the appeal on procedural grounds. The court’s decision on the package, which includes articles that would reform the judiciary, is crucial for Turkey. Liberal jurists in the country say a ruling from the high court that cancels the public vote on the referendum scheduled for Sept. 12 would severely damage Turkey’s process of democratization. Although the high court has said the review will be conducted solely on procedural grounds, the court’s president has made remarks suggesting that the judges will conduct their examination based on substance with regard to some articles in the package. The Constitutional Court in 2008 annulled a bill that would have lifted a ban on headscarves in a very similar case. In 2007, it canceled presidential elections held in Parliament using a never-before-used legal interpretation. In both cases the Constitutional Court was accused of exceeding its authority and ignoring Parliament’s, and therefore the nation’s, will.

“We still want a referendum on the package even if one or more articles are canceled. We will not call early elections just because an article or two is canceled. Early elections are not on our agenda,” AK Party parliamentary group deputy chairman Bekir Bozdag said.