The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) will build a new era in Turkish politics with the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) after the executive presidential system goes into effect in 2019, MHP Deputy Chairman Semih Yalçın said.
Commenting on the joint alliance efforts by the MHP and the AK Party, MHP Deputy Chairman Yalçın stressed that the Republic of Turkey will enter a new era in 2019 with the executive presidential system. "The two parties are building the third era in the history of the republic. The first era was between 1920-1946. The multiparty era was between 1946-2019. And the third era after 2019 with the executive presidential system. Two parties built this process," he said.
The two parties have recently opened a new page in Turkish politics after an electoral partnership called the People's Alliance was formed. The AK Party and the MHP are gearing up to enter the 2019 elections under the same alliance.
Underlining that any party can join the People's Alliance under a few conditions, Yalçın said there are the two parties that have been carrying out the aforementioned process from the very beginning.
Responding to criticism that bringing electoral alliances to a legal basis is unfair for some parties, the MHP deputy chairman said any party can form alliances if they want. Yalçın also brushed off rumors that the MHP agreed to an alliance with the AK Party because it is concerned about not being able to pass the election threshold.
The AK Party and the MHP last week presented a 26-article bill to Parliament following weeks-long alliance negotiations for the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2019. The submitted bill was signed by AK Party Deputy Chairman and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım as well as MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli. The bill will pave the way for electoral alliances, a first in Turkish politics.
Electoral alliances were brought to the agenda after MHP Chairman Bahçeli said his party would not nominate anyone for the 2019 presidential elections, but would support Erdoğan for re-election.
The two parties joined forces in the April 16, 2017 referendum as well. The MHP extended its sup
port to the AK Party in convincing the people to vote for the constitutional changes, which envisaged a transition to the executive presidential system.
Bahçeli previously said the underlying reason for the alliance decision is that his party would act in accordance with the Yenikapı spirit, referring to the rally that took place in Istanbul on Aug. 7, 2016, with the participation of all of Turkey's main political leaders. That occasion was considered a symbol of political consensus following the July 15, 2016 failed coup.
