The Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) on April 24 called on Turkey to “postpone” the June 24 snap elections, citing the ongoing state of emergency in the country.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) urging Turkey to postpone its early elections over its state of emergency shows a double standard as no one made an issue about the same situation in France, Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ said on April 24.
Turkey’s electoral body on April 25 announced that 11 political parties will compete in the June 24 polls.
Turkey has made a formal request to Germany to set up polling stations at Turkish consulates in the country for the June 24 early elections, officials said on April 23.
National Sovereignty Day celebrations were marked by political tension between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) on April 23, as the latter bids to find a strategy against the AKP and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) alliance in the upcoming snap election.
Fledgeling party, buttressed by induction of 15 opposition MPs, declared eligible to run in June general elections.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has accused the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) of “polluting the parliament” after 15 deputies quit the CHP to join the newly founded İYİ (Good) Party and help it set up a parliamentary group.
İYİ Party won’t be given treasury grants for not having joined the latest election even though it has a group at parliament. Concerning the matter, Minister of Justice Gül has said, “There is no legislation in our statute for those who form a group to be given grants”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on April 24 he was expecting to hold a campaign rally in a European city next month ahead of the June elections despite a ban by some Western countries on Turkish politicians campaigning abroad.
The opposition’s efforts to find a joint candidate was a “project of political design” and “blew up in their hands,” said Prime Minister Binali Yıdırım, responding to questions from reporters over speculations about former President Abdullah Gül’s candidacy for the upcoming elections.