AK Party meets to hold survey for chairmanship candidacy
by Merve Aydoğan
ISTANBULMay 17, 2016 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Merve Aydoğan
May 17, 2016 12:00 am
Prior to the emergency convention on May 22, the ruling AK Party is set to complete intra-party surveys help in the selection of a candidate for the new party chairperson. The party is expected to the announce the candidate by Friday
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is readying itself for its May 22 emergency convention that was called after Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu announced his resignation last week. Party governance head Mustafa Ataş, who is also a member of the convention preparation committee, has called on all party members to suggest a single nominee for party chairman, who will also become prime minister. The first survey took place yesterday, and Ataş told all AK Party provincial heads, deputies, Central Decision and Executive Board (MKYK) members and the party's founding members to forward a single name. According to AK Party sources, the final round of the survey will take place at party headquarters today by the convention committee.
It will ask deputies, MKYK members and the party's founding members who they would like to see as AK Party chairman. Although it has not been confirmed whether Davutoğlu will attend the meetings or not, the AK Party administration has agreed to carry on the party tradition of consultations before choosing or announcing a candidate.
According to an official announcement, the AK Party will elect a new chairman to become prime minister and new MYK members, and other governing bodies of the party will also be reshuffled. The announcement said that the 50-member MYKY, all the members of the MYK, Intra-Party Democracy Board and Political Virtue and Ethics Committee will also be reshuffled at the convention.
Cabinet meetings, which are currently held every two months at the Presidential Palace, are also set to change. Following the emergency convention, they will be held every month at the Presidential Palace in efforts to shape the main strategy regarding state administration. Under the new changes, the weekly or biweekly Cabinet meeting will be held at the Prime Ministry's Çankaya Palace to assess developments.
Along with preparations for the emergency convention, AK Party deputies' agendas are occupied with the motion to lift parliamentary immunities, which is set to be discussed in Parliament on May 17, as well. The AK Party parliamentary group announced that the first round of voting for the party's proposal to lift immunities will be held in the late afternoon on May 17, which would be followed by a second round of voting on May 20 early in the morning.
Now that PM Davutoğlu has given his resignation and the AK Party prepares for its emergency convention on May 22, sources close to the AK Party have said that the party is dedicatedly working to introduce a party member presidential model and will present it to Parliament as soon as the new government is established. Under the previous model, Parliament nominated and elected the president, who had to be above politics. AK Party Group Deputy Chairman Nurettin Canikli said that once the new government is established the party aims to introduce the partisan presidential model to Parliament in June.
Although debates on transforming the country's governance from a parliamentary system to a semi-presidential or presidential regime continue, AK Party sources say the new model will put an end to chronic problems in the system of government that lead to ambiguity in executive authority between the prime minister and president.
Explaining that the AK Party has not given up on establishing a new constitution with a presidential system, Canikli said that the party has the new model as a plan B if consensus is not reached during meetings on a new constitution and that they expect opposition parties to support the new model. Along with the new proposal for a partisan presidential system, the AK Party is continuing work on a new constitution with a presidential system. According to AK Party staff estimates, a new constitution with 100 articles will take approximately 90 days to complete, meaning there will be discussions on it seven days a week for three months. The staff also said that introducing and discussing a new constitution with the public and then addressing it in the Constitutional Committee and holding a referendum would take nearly two years.Because of this, AK Party sources said that in the current critical period, realizing a partisan presidential system is the most practical way forward. Sources also indicated that a mini package would be introduced to the Parliament speaker shortly after establishing the new government and receiving a vote of confidence. The AK Party also plans to take the mini package to a referendum to lift parliamentary immunities on the same day, thus allowing citizens to vote on both immunities and a partisan presidential system to replace the parliamentary model.
The mini package includes amending Article 101 that forbids the president from associating with a political party, stating: "The president-elect, if a member of a party, shall sever his relations with his party and his status as a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey shall cease." In addition, Article 104, which says: "The president is the head of state," is to be amended to: "The president is the head of state and administration," to allow the president to chair Cabinet meetings as part of the post.
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