Turkish President Issues Order for Early Parliamentary Elections

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President of Turkey, has announced that the country's early parliamentary elections will be held on November 1. Mr. Erdoğan stated on Friday, August 21, that he will meet with the Speaker of Parliament next Monday to finalize the arrangements for this issue. The announcement for early parliamentary elections comes after Ahmet Davutoğlu, the Prime Minister, faced failure in forming a coalition government. According to the Turkish Constitution, the announcement of early parliamentary elections is at the discretion of the President. In the recent parliamentary elections, the Justice and Development Party, which had held an absolute majority in Parliament for years, lost its majority. Both the President and the Prime Minister are from this party. Accordingly, Mr. Erdoğan has called on the Prime Minister and his rival parties to form a coalition government. September 1 is the legal deadline for forming a coalition government, but both Mr. Davutoğlu and the rival parties have declared the negotiations and efforts a failure. The Nationalist Movement Party and the Republican People's Party were the parties that were negotiating to form a coalition government with the Justice and Development Party. The leftist Peoples' Democratic Party, which has significant support from many Kurds in Turkey, is also present in the current Parliament. In this context, Davutoğlu has officially withdrawn from efforts to form a coalition government in Turkey.