Main opposition plans to field joint lists in 87 districts

TURKEY - In Brief 20 Sep 2022 by Atilla Yesilada

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In as much as the title sounds tantalizingly obscure, this is potentially a ground-breaking plan, which will help the Table of Six (CHP, IYIP, SP, DP, DEVA, Gelecek) to gain more seats per vote. However, technically speaking it is difficult to implement. While I’m at it, I want to reiterate my view that Kilicdaroglu is the almost-certain candidate of the main opposition and there is no danger of the Table of Six (ToS) splitting before or after 2023 elections. What is a joint list? Remember, AKP-MHP majority in the Grand Assembly amended the Electoral Bill, so that small parties falling below the 7% national qualifying hurdle can make it to the Grand Assembly by officially joining “an alliance”. In the past version of the Bill, the votes of all member parties had been counted as one in terms of deciding which alliance wins the seats in each district. Then, in a second round of allocation, the seats were shared among alliance members according to the share of their vote in the total for that district. In the new version, seats are determined by ranking each party according to its own vote and then allocating seats to the parties which have the highest votes. This system negates most of the advantage for smaller parties to join alliances though they could still produce congresspeople in districts where they are extraordinarily strong. For instance, Mr. Davutoglu’s Gelecek Party garners only 1% of the national vote according to our poll-of-polls table. By joining the main opposition alliance, Gelecek can technically make it to the parliament, but will probably produce only a seat in Konya, where Davutoglu is very popular. In all the other districts, its share of the total ...