Turkey lowers party' election threshold for parliament to 7 pct-Xinhua

Turkey lowers party' election threshold for parliament to 7 pct

Source: Xinhua| 2022-04-01 06:09:30|Editor: huaxia

ANKARA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Turkish parliament on Thursday approved legal changes to the election laws, lowering the election threshold for political parties to enter the parliament from 10 percent to 7 percent.

The 15-article amendment to election laws was put forward to the Grand National Assembly by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its main political ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) earlier this month. Seven articles were ratified by the parliament on late Thursday.

The current 10 percent threshold for political parties was introduced after the 1980 Turkish military coup. The country, later applied to join the European Union, drew the bloc's criticism for its high threshold.

The amendment also eliminates terms allowing the transfer of lawmakers between the opposition parties. Through the transfer, newly-founded small parties can be eligible to run for the elections.

Currently, a political party with at least 20 lawmakers in the parliament can run in the elections.

In the 2018 elections, the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) transferred 15 lawmakers to the small opposition Good Party (IYI) which only had five deputies, allowing the latter to run for the elections.

According to the Turkish constitution, any amendment to the election law can only apply to next elections a year after it comes into effect. The next elections were scheduled for June 2023.

Turkey's new executive-presidential system requires at least 50 percent of the votes to win the elections, encouraging political parties to form alliances.

Currently, the AKP and the MHP have created the People's Alliance, while four opposition parties, namely CHP, IYI, the Democrat Party and the Felicity Party, have formed the Nation Alliance.

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