The Objection of Republican People’s Party (CHP) to the New Electoral Law

The Objection of Republican People’s Party (CHP) to the New Electoral Law

The General President of Republican People’s Party (CHP), Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu severely objected to the amendments of the electoral law numbered 298/1961 with line number 534. The objection he made started to be called as the move of Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) for eliminating the opposition while echoing worldwide.

What was the objection of CHP? With this amendment, no opportunity of the early election left constitutionally while the early election, dominant election were discussed in the opposition. Without touching upon this issue in the group meeting, Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu listed his objections:

1. Unfair representation increases, national will is being usurped.
2. The threshold increasingly continues in a virtual way. September 12 had brought the threshold of 10%. The July 20 coup plotters defend this. They bring two thresholds, one of them is 10%, and the other is % 51.
3. It is contrary to the principle of equality of constitutional law. The justice disappears in the representation.
4. This offer will remove the election safety. This means that the invalid unsealed voting papers in the referendum are now valid. This offer is the proof of the illegality of the referendum.
5. This offer also stands for a tough election preparation. The police will be able to enter into the area of the ballot box.
6. It is aimed at decreasing the audits of the parties. The officers of the dynasty will serve in the ballot box.
7. The governor will be able to put any ballot box to anywhere he wishes.

I wonder can it be real. Let us examine the objection issue clause-by-clause.

1. Unfair representation increases, national will is being usurped.

• The faulty voting was possible because of the lack of knowledge of elector, mispleading or impossibilities. The new act has restricted this. For instance, in the elections with more than one voting paper there was an obligation of putting the right voting paper inside the right envelope. In the new act, the elector has eliminated the envelope confusion by putting the all votes he wanted to vote inside the single envelope belonging to him.

2. The threshold increasingly continues in a virtual way. September 12 had brought the threshold of 10%. The July 20 coup plotters defend this. They bring two thresholds, one of them is 10%, and the other is % 51.

• In the two-stage elections, to be selected in the second round for the two candidates who got the highest vote in the first round is based on the one candidate to get vote one more than half. An implementation except this cannot be possible. What kind of logic is this to express this universal implementation as the threshold of 51%*

3. It is contrary to the principle of equality of constitutional law. The justice disappears in the representation.

• What are the amendments to prevent the votes cast from being inadvertently rather than increasing the justice in the representation*

4. This offer will remove the election safety. This means that the invalid unsealed voting papers in the referendum are now valid. This offer is the proof of the illegality of the referendum.

• The seal to protect the security of the voting paper is one of the options for sure. However, the watermarked voting papers rise the voting paper safety to a high degree.

5. This offer also stands for a tough election preparation. The police will be able to enter into the area of the ballot box.

• The police and the soldier are essential for the safety of our country. Worrying about the disappearance of the election safety, Kılıçdaroğlu seems to forget that the terror organization, PKK took the election regions under the armed threat in the past.

6. It is aimed at decreasing the audits of the parties. The officers of the dynasty will serve in the ballot box.

• All political parties are obliged to have observers in every ballot box areas. This authority and right have been reserved under the new act as it is.

7. The governor will be able to put any ballot box to anywhere he wishes.

• Ballot boxes can be carried into the safe area providing the declaration 1 month in advance within the authorities of governors, open to the audits of political parties in the places with security vulnerability.

To which amendment do Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu and his team object among 26 amendments below?

1. Amendment in Article 5: The election safety has been increased by allowing the residents in the same building to vote in different ballot boxes.
2. Amendment in Article 14: It has been allowed to carry the ballot box to safer areas in the regions having difficulty to prove safety.
3. Amendment in Article 22: The “It is selected by lot among the government officials” law has been issued instead of the “It is selected among the good and renowned persons” law in the former act.
4. In the regions where political parties do not assign any members and the council is not formed, it has been provided that the civilian authority can select among government officials by lot.
5. Amendment in 68: It has been allowed that more than one voting paper can be put into the same envelope. The physical structure of the voting booths has been described.
6. Amendment in Article 78: The size of the voting envelopes will be decided by the district election board.
7. Amendment in Article 81: It is about the order of the ballot box area.
8. Amendment in Article 82: Now the elector call becomes valid for calling the security forces while they were called by the presiding officer only in the former act.
9. Amendment in Article 98: It is about the using the voting papers with watermark.
10. Amendment in Article 100: It involves a technical regulation about vote counting book.
11. Amendment in Article 101: It is a technical regulation about the seal issue.
12. Amendment in Article 105: It is a technical issue how the voting will be made as long as the election alliance is formed.

Article 13 and the subsequent articles include technical amendments.

In case of examining the articles one by one or as a whole, it will be seen that the new act pursues a goal of reflecting the high security and elector will on the ballot bow in a high level. The objections of CHP to which parts of the new act are not even clear.

It is obvious that the complaints of CHP in the elections made according to the former act are being corrected with this new act.

All of these shows that Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu has not read the new act as well as his team has not read and assessed it.

The Former Act:

http://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/MevzuatMetin/1.4.298.pdf

The New Act:

https://www.tbmm.gov.tr/sirasayi/donem26/yil01/ss534.pdf