Yeniden Refah Party statement on early elections: 'It serves no purpose'

Kılıç stated, "It is too early to talk about early elections today. There is no benefit to Turkey in even mentioning the idea of taking Turkey to an early election today."

Making statements to the press, Kılıç reported that the Central Executive Board (MYK) had discussed the results of the March 31 elections, saying, "Our Central Executive Board has addressed the March 31 Local Election results, conducted comprehensive evaluations, and mapped out our roadmap for the future. First and foremost, there are provinces where ballot results are being contested and disputes are occurring, primarily in Yozgat and Şanlıurfa. Bitlis is among these provinces, as is Van. Recounts are being conducted in these provinces."

He continued, "We stand with all public officials in the provinces where counting is being repeated; we stand not only with our ballot box observers, our candidates, or our party members, but with all public officials. Ballots should be recounted in all our provinces, the law must be followed, and everyone must uphold the reflection of the citizens' free will as a moral duty."

Kılıç continued his speech as follows:

"Our Yeniden Refah Party has won a total of 66 municipalities in the March 31 elections, including one provincial municipality and one metropolitan municipality. It is a great achievement and a major success for the Yeniden Refah Party to emerge from the first local election it has entered by winning one metropolitan, one provincial, and a total of 66 municipalities. We congratulate all our candidates, organizations, and officials who contributed to this effort. We wish for their success to be lasting. A new era has begun in these won municipalities; 'Yeniden Refah Municipalism' has begun. We have not the slightest doubt that they will work with all their might to deliver what the public expects from them."

"IT HAS SURPASSED THE THRESHOLD PROBLEM ON ITS OWN"

Reminding that the Yeniden Refah Party emerged as the third most-voted party in Turkey in its first local election, Kılıç stated, "We are experiencing the happiness of finishing in third place with a vote share of 6.98 percent in the first local election we entered in the fifth year of our establishment. With this result, the Yeniden Refah Party has surpassed the threshold problem on its own as of today in a potential election, and it has not only reached a 7 percent vote share; at the same time, the difficult conditions of the election process have been overcome entirely."

Kılıç also drew attention to the lack of media support during the elections. Stating that they faced a strict television embargo, Kılıç also mentioned that they did not benefit from the aid provided by the treasury to political parties throughout the election process.

Answering journalists' questions after the press statement, Kılıç said, "The election ended just yesterday; it is too early to talk about early elections today, but I can say this: I have been in the field for 50 days, and our Chairman has also been in the field. Our Chairman truly put forth an extraordinary effort for our party's success and for our country to meet with 'Refah Municipalism.' As the party organization and MYK members, we have no planes, we have no helicopters, but when you look at the performance he showed, the number of provinces he visited, the districts he reached, and the rallies he held, he displayed an extraordinary performance as if we had planes and helicopters."

"TURKEY'S AGENDA SHOULD BE THE ECONOMY, NOT EARLY ELECTIONS"

Reminding that Turkey has been constantly on an election agenda since the beginning of 2023, Kılıç said, "What the street expects from this moment on is the resolution of chronic problems in the economy. The street is not thinking of or demanding a new or early election. There is no benefit to Turkey, no benefit to politics, no benefit to social segments, and no benefit to victims in even mentioning the idea of taking Turkey to an early election today.

Going to a useless election is not meaningful. But we convey this as a call to the government: last year was spent on elections, and this year has been spent on elections so far. From now on, you must focus on the economy. There is a serious inflation problem; there is a serious interest rate problem, and there are serious problems regarding payments. Kitchen inflation is far above what is seen in the market.

People, retirees, and minimum wage earners say they cannot make ends meet. Being occupied with early elections is not the right thing to do. What should be done is to focus on the economy; under these conditions, Turkey's agenda should be the economy, not early elections. Not even a year has passed since the election; the government has a 4-year term of office. They need to focus on solving problems without wasting a single moment of this period."

News Source: İHA