TEHRAN - Osman Faruk Logoglu, a senior member of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), says it is unlikely that Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party win enough parliamentary seats in snap election to amend the constitution to change parliamentary system into presidential.

Turkish President Erdogan said Friday that he hopes to hold snap elections on Nov. 1 after rejecting the main opposition party’s request to try to form a new government, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

“We will take our country to an early election,” Erdogan said in Ankara.

He said he would confer with the speaker of parliament to make the call after the 45-day period to form a government ends Sunday night.

Opposition parties have slammed Erdogan’s push for early elections as a maneuver to empower the long-ruling Justice and Development Party which he led before becoming president last year.

But recent surveys indicate little has changed in public opinion since the polls on June 7, meaning a new vote could deliver another hung parliament or return the AKP to power with a slim majority—too small to push through the kind of constitutional changes Erdogan is seeking.

“It is unlikely that in a repeat election AKP will win enough seats in parliament to amend the Constitution,” Logoglu tells the Tehran Times.

Following is the text of the interview:

Q: Failure of the talks shows that President Erdogan is not interested in formation of coalition government with rival parties. Why?

A: President Erdogan more than once stated his clear preference for early elections rather than the formation of a coalition government. He calculates that in a repeat election, AKP will recoup the votes it lost on June 7 and make a comeback with a majority in the parliament. He wants an AKP parliamentary majority, first because he still wants to change the regime into a presidential system and also because with an AKP government in power, he would not face prosecution on corruption and other charges.

Q: Why Erdogan is indirectly trying to pave the way for another election? Can his dreams come true to change the parliamentary system into presidential through another election?

A: On June 7 the Turkish people said, “No, we do not want a presidential system!” Hence, it is unlikely that in a repeat election AKP will win enough seats in parliament to amend the Constitution. President Erdogan claimed recently that the “system has changed” in Turkey.
For him, all that remains now is to legitimize the actual situation, to make the de facto situation a de jure situation. That however is not going to happen because the Turkish people have already turned down the call for a presidential system.

Q: To what extent can a change in system guarantee Erdogan’s long term influence in power whether directly or indirectly?

A: Whatever the outcome of the next elections, President Erdogan will still be the president. He acts as if he is a president in a presidential system of government. His stance will continue to be a source of tension and controversy in Turkish politics.

Q: It is said Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is going to return the mandate to president. Now the ball is in Erdogan’s court. What are the remaining choices for him?

A: President Erdogan, according to the Constitution, has the right to call for early elections. He could still ask the main opposition leader Mr. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, chairman of CHP, to try to form a coalition. But given the experience of the past few weeks, the chances of a coalition are very slim indeed. On 23 August the 45-day period ends, giving the president the power to take the country into early elections.


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Erdogan acts as if he is a president in a presidential system of government.