BBP leader says Erdoğan will be re-elected in first round

Mustafa Destici, the chairman of the Great Union Party (BBP), said Monday that he expects President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will win the upcoming presidential elections in the first round and People's Alliance will garner a majority in Parliament.

"It will be a democratic race. It is an out- come of the April 16 referendum. What I see is that Erdoğan will win the election in the first round," he said in an interview on NTV.

The People's Alliance was formed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Nationalist Movement Party

(MHP) for the parliamentary and presidential elections on June 24. The BBP was also included in the People's Alliance, however, its candidates will enter the parliamentary election on AK Party's lists.

Mustafa Destici also said that he will be listed as a candidate in the AK Party's candidate lists. He added that in the presidential elections, the BBP will support Erdoğan.

Destici said that previous system had to be changed since it represented the mindset of Sept. 12, 1980 coup plotters.

"A new system will bring stability in the government and justice in representation.

Even parties who voted no in the April referendum have formed an alliance now and find a chance to be represented in Parliament," he said. The Republican People's Party (CHP), Good Party (İP), Felicity Party (SP) and Democrat Party (DP) have formed the Nation's Alliance against the People's Alliance for the parliamentary elections, which enable the smaller parties to skirt a regulation that mandates that parties must receive at least 10 percent of the vote to enter Parliament. All parties will enter the presidential elections with their own candidates.