As the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) held a Central Executive Board meeting yesterday, the main topic was the ordinary convention scheduled for Aug. 18, reports say.

Chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, institutional changes and the party's bylaws regarding the new presidential system and local elections set for March 2019 were also discussed during the meeting.

Following the switch to the new executive presidential system over the past few weeks and the AK Party's victory in the June 24 elections, the party has gradually been conducting several institutional changes to further adjust to the new governmental system.

Reportedly, the Central Executive Board also discussed topics ranging from economic policy in the new system to the party's policy strategies heading toward the upcoming local elections.

In the light of these institutional adjustments, last Saturday, 13 new deputy ministers were appointed, according to the Official Gazette.

Meanwhile, the appointments included five ministries. As of yesterday, two new ministries announced their newly appointed deputy ministers in the Official Gazette.

Fatma Varank, professor Mehmet Emin Birpinar and Mücahir Demirtaş were appointed as deputy ministers for the Environment and Urbanization Ministry. Abdullah Tancan, Alparslan Bayraktar and Mithat Cansız were appointed to the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry. In addition, Abdülkadir Uraloğlu was appointed to the General Directorate of Highways (KGM).

In the aftermath of the June 24 elections, in which Erdoğan won by 52.6 percent of the vote, the AK Party gained 295 seats in the 600-deputy Parliament with 42.56 percent of the vote, and the MHP gained 49 seats with 11.10 percent. The People's Alliance has 344 seats, which makes up an absolute majority but falls 56 short of the 400 deputies required for constitutional amendments and six short of introducing constitutional amendments in public referendums.