Election scenarios

There are several scenarios for the upcoming elections on June 7 and expectations for surprising results



As President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, the upcoming June 7 elections are full of "surprises." This can also be seen in the results of opinion polls. While some surveys suggest that the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) might come to power alone, others reveal the possibility of a coalition government. Some also show that the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) might pass the election threshold while others predict that it might remain below it by 1.5 percent. One of the main reasons for the emergence of such a picture is that the June 7 general elections do not have major political objectives such as fighting the "parallel structure," that is, the Gülenist network within the state, as the March 30 local elections did, nor does it have a grand narrative such as bringing Erdoğan to the presidency as a leader whose magical relation with the electorate is no secret.Certainly, another major reason is the possibility that if the HDP passes the 10 percent election threshold, the AK Party might lose between 35 and 45 of its deputies, or quite the contrary, if the vote for the HDP remains below the election threshold then the AK Party might achieve the same number of deputies as before. Therefore, the HDP's struggle to pass the threshold makes election estimations hover between two extreme alternatives, with one of them being a coalition government and the other being the AK Party coming to power alone and issuing a new constitution unopposed. From my point of view, there are two possible scenarios. Turkey is unlikely to opt for an alternative that will lead to a coalition government or, one way or another, the AK Party will come to power alone. If the HDP fails to pass the threshold, the AK Party will easily achieve 330 or more deputies – a number that that will allow them to issue a new constitution and hold a referendum on it. In this case, the country will first enter an atmosphere of a new constitution and then of another general election – a process that I think will take at least two years.The other scenario is that the HDP might pass the threshold and the AK Party might come to power alone with between 285 and 300 deputies. This number is slightly bigger than 276, which is required to form a government. In this case, the AK Party might commence work to make a new constitution just like after the 2011 elections. It is highly likely that the country might hold an early election if other parties in Parliament do not lean toward the amendment of agreed articles as they did in 2011. This picture might be in favor of the AK Party more than other parties. As a party that failed to amend the Constitution after a certain struggle, if the AK Party appeals to the public with this narrative of a macro-political objectives, it might have a higher possibility to enter Parliament with a picture that will reflect positively on parliamentary arithmetic.? It is true that the upcoming elections might reveal more "surprising" results than previous elections, but I do not think the extent of this surprise will be great enough to reverse the country's course.