Turkey’s election threshold to rise to 50 percent if ‘yes’ vote prevails in referendum: HDP

ANKARA

Osman Baydemir, the spokesperson for the Kurdish issue-focused Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), has warned that Turkey’s election threshold would “increase to 50 percent” if the constitutional changes are passed in the referendum on April 16, Doğan News Agency has reported.

Baydemir was speaking in pre-referendum a spot on the state broadcaster TRT, saying the current 10 percent threshold on parliamentary representation would effectively be raised to 50 percent if the changes are passed.

“My brothers and sisters! I invite you to say ‘no’ to the 50 percent election threshold. We already live in a country with the highest election threshold in the world. You know well how we tried to pass the 10 percent election threshold for many years. But now they want to increase the threshold to 50 percent election from 10 percent with these constitutional changes,” he said. 

“If someone is able to cross the 50 percent threshold, they can seize 100 percent of the national will,” Baydemir added.     

“What will the other 50 percent do? They will say to ‘no’ to a single-party, monolingual, monochromic imposition. They will not obey. My brothers and sisters! I invite you to say ‘no’ to obeying this change,” he said.

The HDP spokesperson, speaking in place of the party’s jailed co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, also claimed that “no” votes were leading in pre-referendum polls. 

“I am calling all voters thinking about the country’s future to go to the polls. If you go to vote, the ‘no’ votes will win,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Demirtaş has sent three different “no” vote messages from jail ahead of the referendum, saying the people should not allow the AKP to “lengthen this horror movie.”

“Are you aware that we have become the world’s most unhappy community? Take the path that will lead to happiness, security and peace. Say no!” he said in one message.