The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Nationalist Movement Party's (MHP) efforts to form electoral alliances came to a head Wednesday when the representatives of the two parties submitted a 26-article bill to Parliament. Alliance committees established by the AK Party and the MHP concluded their weeks-long talks recently and presented their reports to their respective chairman, AK Party chairman, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli. After the two leaders met last week in a 45-minute meeting, the bill was signed by AK Party Deputy Chairman Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım as well as Bahçeli.

The bill is expected to usher in a new era in Turkish politics, leading to significant changes in political culture in the country. Electoral alliances became a hot topic after Bahçeli said previously that his party would not nominate anyone for the 2019 presidential elections but would support Erdoğan instead.

In the discussions between the alliance committees of the two parties, Justice Minister Abdülhamit Gül, Parliament's Constitution committee head Mustafa Şentop and AK Party spokesman Mahir Ünal represented their parties, while the MHP was represented by Deputy Secretary-General Mustafa Kalaycı, lawmaker Mehmet Parsak from Afyonkarahisar and another parliamentarian from Istanbul, İsmail Faruk Aksu.

As representatives gathered in Parliament for press on Wednesday to introduce the 26-article-bill, Şentop confirmed that the regulations will affect the November 2019 elections. He said the main aim of the alliance commission was to deliver the necessary regulations on the adjustment law.

Accordingly, some proposed changes are as follows:

n Voters will be allowed to register at different electoral districts to get members of the same households to vote together.

The top election board will have the authority to determine the number of voters in an electoral district. The Supreme Election Board (YSK) will also be able to decide on transferring ballot boxes or merging electoral districts.

The head of the balloting committee will have to be a state servant.

How the head of the ballot committee will be elected and steps to be taken in case of his/her absence will be regulated.

Presidential elections and general elections will be held on the same day. Ballots will be put in the same envelope to prevent any mistakes or misunderstandings. Regulations for voting booths will also be introduced.

Ordinary citizens to be allowed to call the police or security forces if unease erupts at a polling station. The ninth article stresses that envelopes not stamped by an election board or balloting committee will also be counted as legal votes.

Votes received by alliances will be shown separately on the result sheet. The 14th article abolishes the ban on political alliances, paving the way for parties to forge alliances in the elections.

After the electoral schedule starts, all political parties planning to create alliances will have to notify the YSK at least seven days in advance after the electoral schedule starts.

Ballot design will be regulated. Allied parties will be listed next to each other with indicators above the parties' emblems signifying alliances. The name of the alliance, if any, will be written. If not, "ALLIANCE" will be written.

The tallying of votes will be regulated. According to the 21st article, if an alliance passes the 10 percent national election threshold, all allied parties will have passed. In this respect, the number of deputies an alliance earned will be counted. Later, this number will be distributed according to the vote share of allied parties.

Moreover, party representatives said there are also no limits to the number of parties that can join an alliance and that there will be no changes made to the current electoral system.

Currently, there is only one alliance. The AK Party and the MHP named their alliance the "People's Alliance." That being said, there might be new parties joining the People's Alliance. Great Union Party (BBP) Chairman Mustafa Destici stressed that there is currently nothing stopping his party from joining the alliance. Speaking in a televised interview late Tuesday following his meeting with President Erdoğan on the same day, Destici said everything has been running smoothly for the BBP in terms of alliance talks.

The Felicity Party (SP) is also rumored to be joining the alliance. However, SP Chairman Temel Karamollaoğlu said recently that they have not "received any proposal for an alliance, but we are open to talks if need be."