ANKARA (Medyascope) – Republican People’s Party Chairman and main opposition leader Özgür Özel has made a major campaign for early elections in Turkey this week, meeting with leaders of 12 opposition parties.
By Özgecan Özgenç • Medyascope
The chairman faces steep odds, as the coalition led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, which holds a majority in the Turkish Parliament, has already announced its resistance to the idea. A two-thirds majority is necessary to trigger snap elections in Turkey.
Özel cites that 8 parliamentary seats in the Turkish Grand National assembly sit vacant. If successful, CHP could contend for the vacant seats in parliament. While this would not grant CHP a majority, it could provide headway through official or unofficial coalitions with other parties. Though a minimum of 30 vacant seats would be required to force an election, Özel cited a historic president on Thursday:
In a speech Thursday (April 9), Özel referenced the AKP’s rise to power 23 years ago, saying “The AKP called for early elections in 2002 on the exact same grounds.”
However, Özel has been calling for an early election in one form since his party’s historic victory in the 2024 local elections, where CHP garnered a plurality for the first time since 1977. While confident in CHP’s ability to take the lead after nearly a quarter-century of Erdoğan and AKP rule, most poll averages show the respective parties neck-and-neck at around 30%.
Özel’s challenge to Erdoğan rekindled last year, when CHP was hit by massive waves of raids and arrests, leading to the imprisonment of hundreds of CHP officials, including the party’s 2028 Presidential candidate and Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. İmamoğlu currently faces a litany of trials and a potential 2400 year sentence.
Cool responses from other parties
While Özel has been making the rounds in an attempt to rally a coalition, responses from other parties have been tepid at best. Özel has met with seven party bosses thus far and is expected to meet with several more. To Özel’s dismay, not even CHP’s former coalition partner from the 2024 general election cycle, İYİ Party appears wooed by his proposal; calling it “unproductive”.
Turkish opposition leader calls for snap elections despite steep odds | Original article by Özgecan Özgenç | Translated by Leo Kendrick for Medyascope | Edited by Medyascope English Newsroom
