İYİ Party calls for early elections, citing need for change in political climate to fix Turkey's economic problems
İYİ Party parliamentary group chair İsmail Tatlıoğlu has said that Turkey is in the middle of an economic crisis due to the ruling AKP's policies and called for a snap election ahead of the polls scheduled for 2023. “Let's take Turkey to a new political climate which will bring an exit. It would be only through a change in the political will that we could get come out of this poverty trap,” Tatlıoğlu said.
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Turkey's opposition İYİ (Good) Party has called for early elections, a demand which has received the support of most parties except the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its coalition partner.
“As parliament, let's do a medium-term plan and an exit plan and go to elections in 2021. Let's take Turkey to a new political climate that will bring an exit. It would be only through a change in the political will that we could get come out of this poverty trap,” İYİ Party parliamentary group chair İsmail Tatlıoğlu said during a speech in parliament on Dec. 7.
Tatlıoğlu said that Turkey is getting poorer every day due to the mismanagement of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). “Dear [Vice President] Fuat Oktay, when you assumed the position of Vice President, Turkey was richer. Compared to 2008, Turkey is 111 billion dollars poorer. Compared to 2013, Turkey is 288 billion poorer. This is not a momentary picture. It is a conjuncture. Turkey is being drifted into a structural deadlock,” he said.
Tatlıoğlu has said that Turkey's central bank appears increasingly fragile, as its foreign currency reserves are at their lowest level ever. He said that for the first time in the history of the Turkish Republic, the country has been experiencing both a deficit in its public budget and current account balance. The Turkish lira has seen successive record lows against the dollar this year, losing more than 30 percent of its value.
This is not the first time that İYİ Party called for a snap election ahead of the polls scheduled for 2023. Following a meeting with main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in November, İYİ Party chair Meral Akşener had also said that the AKP can no longer govern the country and there is a need for an election for “ease of citizens.”
Apart from İYİ Party and CHP, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has also in many instances called for an early election, especially following a series of crackdowns on the party.
In October, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is also the AKP's chair, dismissed reports of early elections, saying they would be held on schedule in June 2023.