Opposition Future Party says in contact with 40 lawmakers of ruling AKP
Future Party deputy leader Selçuk Özdağ has said that his party is in contact with 40 lawmakers of the ruling AKP, ahead of the 2023 general elections. "Old and new parliamentarians are complaining about the People's Alliance and the monstrous regime. They know that the AKP is mismanaging and cannot win the election," Özdağ said in an interview with daily Yeniçağ.
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Selçuk Özdağ, opposition Future Party's deputy leader, has told daily Yeniçağ in an interview that his party is currently talking with 40 parliamentarians of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Özdağ said that he and Future Party leader Ahmet Davutoğlu had also participated in these talks. "We are talking with many parliamentarians. Old and new parliamentarians are complaining about the People's Alliance and the monstrous regime. They know that the AKP is mismanaging and cannot win the election. We are talking with about 40 parliamentarians from AKP. When the old ones are included, this number reaches 60,” he said.
Özdağ said that his party is also in contact with parliamentarians of the MHP.
Özdağ was also asked to comment on the 101st Article of the Constitution, which enshrines a two-term limit on the presidency.
“The President of the Republic’s term of office shall be five years. A person may be elected as the President of the Republic for two terms at most,” reads the relevant article.
Özdağ said that the ruling governing coalition “wants to violate the Constitution” over their plans to nominate President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan once again.
“There is a Devlet Bahçeli [MHP leader] who says the Constitutional Court should be abolished. They want to abolish the Constitution with the proposal to become a candidate for the third time in June 2023," Özdağ said, in reference to the government's announcement that Erdoğan's name will be on the ballot in the 2023 general elections.
Asked if he thinks the Supreme Election Council (YSK) will accept Erdoğan's application for the election, Özdağ said: "Erdoğan completed this task by being elected twice in 2014 and 2017. Therefore, not a single judge can give a positive response to Erdoğan's application in the face of this constitutional provision."
Although the Article 101 of the Turkish Constitution puts a two-term limit on the presidency, the Article 106 says that if parliament dissolves early and moves for a snap election, the president’s term does not count.