Turkey's election system becomes graveyard for political parties
More than 90 political parties are currently active in Turkey, but the 10% electoral threshold means that the upcoming parliamentary polls will be a race between four of them.
Turkish political parties are a numerous and colorful lot, but the four major parties currently represented in parliament will be the only real contenders in the June 7 legislative elections. According to official figures released March 31, no fewer than 97 parties are active today. The leaders of the Sept. 12, 1980, military coup had outlawed all political parties after taking over, so the parties today were all founded in the years since the coup. The 13-year rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has seen a real boom in parties, with 57 new ones established since 2002.
Some newcomers stand out in name and platform. The Electronic Democracy Party, or e-Party, for instance, advocates unrestricted Internet access, a serious issue in a country where the authorities often block or attempt to block websites, including giants like Twitter. The Turkish Party of the Unemployed and Laborers supports factory strikes and demonstrations by the unemployed. It has recently organized a campaign against the construction of the country's first nuclear power plant. The Women’s Party, as its name suggests, consists of women. Its members are campaigning for a transition from a “men’s democracy” to a real democracy. People with disabilities have created the Unimpeded Life Party and the Unimpeded Turkey Party to advocate for their rights.
While the above parties campaign for the rights of specific social groups, most Turkish parties are Islamist, nationalist or leftist movements. The Justice and Truth Party, for instance, operates under the slogan “Islam is the solution” and describes itself as a “neo-Ottoman movement.” Also standing out in the Islamist camp is the Free Cause Party, widely viewed as a political offshoot of Turkey’s Hezbollah, an Islamist group with a violent past (and unrelated to its Lebanese namesake).
The crowded nationalist camp includes the Great Turanist Movement and the Motherland and Independence Party. There are also a number of socialist parties as well as pro-Kurdish groups, including the Kurdistan Freedom Party. There is even a Gezi Party, inspired by the mass anti-government protests that erupted at Istanbul’s Gezi Park in June 2013.
