President Erdogan’s party was unable to secure the desired 2/3rds majority in Parliament that would have allowed them to change the constitution, thereby empowering the Presidency in an unprecedented manner. In fact, the AK Party didn’t even receive a simple majority, scoring only 40% of the total votes cast. Faced with such an unexpected electoral let down, they must scramble for either a coalition government or possibly early elections.
These dramatic results have thrown a wrench in President Erdogan’s plans to transform the Turkish state.
Vladimir Sotnikov, Senior Research Fellow at the Center for International Security, Institute of World Economy and International Relations (studio guest), Serap Balaman, Turkish political commentator(France) and Marwan Kobalan, associate researcher at the Arab Center for research and policy studies (Doha), commented on the issue.
