Turkey’s new election law to throw lifeline to Erdoğan’s far-right allies

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is preparing legislation to lower the electoral threshold, pro-government Daily Sabah reported on Thursday.  

Under current rules adopted after the 1980 military coup, parties must receive ten percent of the vote nationwide to enter parliament, the highest in stipulation in Europe.

Lowering the threshold would allow smaller parties to participate the elections without necessarily joining alliances, potentially benefitting the AKP’s far-right ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), whose support is hovering at around ten percent.

The new proposals will also likely block “terror-linked parties” from access to funds from the state budget, Daily Sabah said.

The MHP recently called for the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the third biggest grouping in the Turkish parliament, to be closed down for alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Daily Sabah said changes were similarly being planned for the way each party’s seats were allocated.   

Ahead of the 2018 elections, 15 lawmakers resigned from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) to join the newly formed İYİ Party, allowing the smaller party’s candidate to stand for president.  The lawmakers then re-joined the CHP.

The İYİ Party was formed by dissident members of the MHP in 2017 amid differences over the party’s support for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.