AK Party to research causes of decrease in its votes


Though the possibility of a coalition government has been topping Turkey's political agenda following the elections, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is reaching out to the public in efforts to determine the reasons behind the significant drop in its votes. According to local media sources, the AK Party will conduct a public survey that asking ask citizens which party they voted for and for what reasons. As AK Party officials announced earlier that the party is keeping all options on the table over the shape of Turkey's new government, a post-election survey conducted by research company Ipsos revealed that 4 percent of participants who did not vote for the AK Party in the June 7 elections would vote for it in possible snap elections, which would allow the AK Party to become the majority ruling government once more. In the meantime, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu held a meeting with the AK Party Central Decision and Executive Board (MKYK) on Wednesday at the party's headquarters. He will also meet with the party's provincial and municipal heads on Thursday. Additionally, Davutoğlu is expected to meet with prominent figures from the party who have been subjected to the party's three-term rule as well as the new deputies in the upcoming days. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with Davutoğlu on Tuesday where Erdoğan accepted the procedural resignation of the Cabinet and asked the prime minister and his team to stay on until a new government is formed. As concerns are high with stringent differences between the policies of the parties in Parliament making it hard for negotiations for a coalition, which has adverse connotations in Turkey as it saw serious setbacks in both political and economic progress before the AK Party came to power and ended the period of coalition governments.