Strasbourg, 08/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 8 June, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini and the Commissioner for Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, welcomed the high voter turnout in the general elections in Turkey on Sunday.
A joint press release explained that “the elections… took place with a record participation level of 86%, this is a clear sign of the strength of Turkish democracy”. According to these two officials, the fact that all the main political parties are represented in the new parliament is “particularly important”. The party of the Conservative Islamist President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the AKP, lost its absolute majority in the parliament but did obtain, nonetheless, a little under 40% of the vote. For the first time, with 30% of the vote, the pro-Kurdish HDP has now entered Parliament.
The High Representative and Commissioner explained: “We are now eagerly awaiting the formation of the new parliament and government and working with them in close collaboration”. They added that “the future period provides a possibility of strengthening relations between the EU and Turkey and making progress in expanded cooperation in all areas”.
According to the preliminary conclusions from the OSCE observation mission, Turkish voters were able to “choose from a large range of political parties” which, “were generally able to campaign freely” but the 10% threshold of votes for entering Parliament limits political pluralism, explained international observers, who were only allowed to have a limited presence on the ground. 20 parties and 165 independent candidates took part in the elections. Freedom of the media is a subject of serious concern (see EUROPE 11329) and several decisions by the Supreme Elections Council elections were deemed incompatible with legislation and the President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who, according to the Constitution, should be nonpartisan but who played an active role in the election campaign. (Camille-Cerise Gessant)