Belgin Buyukbuga Tarhan, Ahmet Bora Tarhan
4. The Good Party in the New Competition Order of Politics
The Constitutional Amendment on April 16, 2017 was approved by the people that ensured the transition from the parliamentary system to presidency. Unlike the parliamentary system, the executive branch was strengthened while the authority was delegated to the president alone. in the two-round election of the new system, the candidate who wins 51% of the vote is elected. On the other hand, the current Turkish system has the 10% threshold in the parliamentary elections that result in the under-representation of all delegates of the society and thus, indirectly preventing peripheral parties from entering parliament. A higher of receiving the 51% votes was added to the pressure below that the party should surpass the 10% national threshold. Turkish politics, after this amendment, press upon political parties and their voters to have the “majority”.
Aksener and her team actively led the “No” campaign for the 2017 Turkish constitutional referendum proposed a “Turkish-Type Presidential System” or known as the “Presidential System”.
Since the “yes” votes had prevailed in the referendum, Aksener has sether next goal to be a
“presidential candidate as a rival to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Aksener suggests that all parties in the “no”
bloc should nominate their own presidential candidates. These parties will, therefore, form alliance in the second round runoff involving the two candidates with the most support. A possible victory is seen as the key to “return to the parliamentary system” for Aksener because the new government system is described as an outdated and monstrous by Aksener (Meral Aksener Start Off with the ‘Alternative Plans’, 23 October, 2017).
69 From Nationalist Grassroots to Center
in the light of the above information, it can be argued that the Good Party, a four-month entity, will have no chance. However, the Good Party does not limit itself to a certain fraction (idealist) in the society as the present ruling party does and welcomes the majority and values of the center. The Good Party will primarily erode the support base of the Nationalist Movement Party in which the Good Party members were previously acting as a group of opposition. in an article published by the journal of Foreign Policy, Aksener stands out as a politician that will unite opposing segments of the society.
Aksener as a compromise candidate of the Islamist wing that Erdoğan appeals, on the one hand, and secular and left wing against Erdoğan, and furthermore could have the potential unite nationalists reacting against Bahceli and politicians offended by the AKP5.
Toward the closest general elections in 2019, the MHP holds on to Turkey’s President and the ruling Justice and Development Party’s leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The MHP, more than a year ago, promised cooperation with the AKP and appears to form an alliance. The same alliance is also valid for the opposition in case that none of the candidates can win the 51% of the votes in the first round. It is clear, at this point, that Aksener’s chance of winning the election is not minimal as long as the understanding of the center party politics based charisma of the strong leaders exist. Aksener, as an experienced politician, involves the features of a center party in her party established with MHP-originated members. An article published the journal of The Economist wrote that Meral Aksener has a chance to challenge Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the process of the presidency elections6.
5. Conclusion
The engagement, pluralization and hybridization of social and political identities on slippery ground in parallel with the process of globalization had led the party ideologies of the center-right in Turkey to providing holistic identities through uniting around the framework of religion and nationalism.
Despite the fact that almost all of the Good Party’s founders have come from the idealist nature and/or the MHP’s base, the Party identifies itself with the center and has the political style of the government.
Umit Ozdağ describes the position of the Party as “national center”. The national center, on the one hand, bears traces of the center-right politics existing since the DP period in the 1950s, on the other hand, appears to be molded into a narrow sense. The center-right has the ideological set of nationalist, conservative and liberal democratic values while the national center solely owns nationalism. However, the meaning of nationalist values and discourse has been broadened in the current world of politics.
It can be argued that the Good Party, which is located at the center, has built its policies on a triple set of values to involve the majority of the people. At the top, there is Turkish nationalism considered as the common notion of the voters. The midsection includes the modern democratic values such as human rights, the rule of law and social justice. Both economic growth and recovery of the individual life standards appears to depend on the consolidation of democratic values and institutions. At the bottom, there are pragmatic solutions that quickly change the lives of the voters in a positive way. The internalization and institutionalization of democratic values is a quite difficult subject to achieve in – short-time ruling period like four or five years. The political parties, therefore, require a short-term, technical and pragmatic discourse. There is a need for solutions that recover the conditions of low and middle income groups through policies targeting at unemployment and income transfer. The Good Party has taken the line of using these three values/discourses if it is needed. The decision of in which case a certain layer become prominent will be made in the practice of politics.
There are many indicators that the Good Party will adopt power-oriented politics. It presents a statist party identity based on a nationalist ground rather than bringing the problems of the periphery to the center. The Good Party, in this status, is not a new party at least with regard to discourse and political cause. It has figured out the codes of the center and opens itself to large masses. This volatility does not weaken its chance, but on the contrary, strengthening it in the closest elections. When the politics
5 For the related article see also; http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/04/24/can-the-she-wolf-who-rejected-the-harem-take-on-sultan-erdogan-meral-aksener/
6 For the related article see also; https://www.economist.com/news/europe/21731408-does-meral-aksener-have-chance-challenge-turkeys-erdogan
Belgin Buyukbuga Tarhan, Ahmet Bora Tarhan
reach an impasse or fall into a crisis in particular periods, the party has the potential to come to power after the current amendment on the government system by gaining accomplishment as a new and unexperienced alternative for the voters.
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