Era of effective Prime Ministry has ended, prominent pollster says
by Daily Sabah
ISTANBULMay 10, 2016 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Daily Sabah
May 10, 2016 12:00 am
The president of the Istanbul's A&G research company, Adil Gür, said the era of an effective Prime Ministry will come to an end with the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) emergency convention set for May 22 to elect a new chairman, who will also be the prime minister.
In an interview with Sabah newspaper on Monday, Gür said as soon as the new chairman is elected, it will immediately bring the issue of changing the Constitution in Parliament: "I think that the number of 330 [votes] will be found in Parliament for a referendum [to pass]. The people will say 'yes' to the new constitution in the event of explaining the situation accurately."
He said the current governing system includes deadlocks and disputes among elected leaders and stressed that what Turkey needs now is to discuss a transition to a full presidential, semi-presidential or an executive presidential system.
In executive presidential systems, the head of the government is the president rather than the prime minister and the candidates in the electoral process are determined by the political parties. Rather than having a bicameral legislature as in full presidential systems, there is unicameral legislature in executive presidential systems.
"We have been conducting research about the Constitution for a long time. When we ask the question of who rules Turkey, 62.3 percent say, [President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan rules Turkey. People think that it is not the government but President Erdoğan who rules Turkey," he said.
Gür claimed that the opposition is "not promising" and that is where the new chairman will come into play. "Perhaps a general election, perhaps a constitutional referendum or presidential elections will take place ahead of us. A prime minister who is congenial with the president and who is a good administrator will be a determining factor in the AK Party's vote."
Turkey has a ruling system in which the president and prime minister have significant powers in governance and both of them are elected by the people. Erdoğan has reiterated many times that in the event the prime minister and president come from different political parties, a two-headed system will become sharper and the two opposing camps will create serious problems.
In the first issue of Kriter magazine, which is published by Ankara's Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA), Erdoğan said that Turkey's governing structure impedes rising opportunities and capabilities and that the country needs a presidential system based on a "synthesis of Turkish history and culture" and universal standards.
He said that many G20 countries are ruled by presidential systems. "We see that presidential systems are behind the success of the majority of developed countries in the world because they are capable of making quick decisions and [have] rapid execution mechanisms. I think that we also need a new constitution and presidential system for the new Turkey in terms of the aforementioned mechanisms."
Regarding the votes of political parties in the current Parliament, Gür also said there has been a serious decline in support for the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party's (HDP) and only 11.5 percent of people say "yes" when asked about whether the opposition as a whole is successful.
"That means three of four in those who voted for opposition parties do not trust in the party they voted for."
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