The alliance protocol, which will eliminate any risk of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Great Union Party (BBP) being excluded from Parliament in the upcoming legislative period, is jointly being prepared by MHP and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
According to sources, the details of the alliance protocol are close to being finalized as it will be the backbone of the People's Alliance, which was announced by the AK Party and the MHP for the upcoming elections.
As part of the new electoral system with the alliances, first, the total number of votes an alliance has garnered will be counted. After, the total percentage of the votes that individual parties' in the alliance receive will be considered in the total vote count for the alliance itself. By doing so, if the vote share of the alliance passes the 10 percent national election threshold, all parties in that alliance will be represented in Parliament.
The AK Party and the MHP will reportedly underscore in the protocol the main reason why an alliance was formed in the first place. Stressing that the de facto alliance between the two parties emerged in the wake of the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, the two parties will point to the tough times the country has been going through for the past couple of years.
Despite the alliance in the early general and presidential elections, the two parties have abstained from making another five-year commitment. It has been reported that the chairmen of the two parties will decide to carry on with the alliance after 2023.
Another aspect of the alliance system will be that there will not be any limit in regard to the number of parties that join an alliance. In addition, the parties that forge an alliance will be free to choose between a joint list and separate lists. For example, the BBP is expected to enter the elections under the AK Party's list. The AK Party and the MHP decided to form a political alliance for the presidential elections when MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli announced that his party will not name a candidate for the 2019 presidential elections and will support the re-election of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Meanwhile, GENAR Research President İhsan Aktaş said over the weekend
that 90 percent of AK Party voters and 80 percent of MHP voters are satisfied with the People's Alliance. "It means that the MHP's grassroots are getting used to the idea of voting for the People's Alliance," Aktaş said. On the other hand, AK Party spokesperson Mahir Ünal said the current vote share of the People's Alliance stands at 55.6 percent. According to a recent poll carried out by research centers, the People's Alliance is way ahead of the possible opposition blocs. Last week, Parliament passed a bill calling for early presidential and parliamentary elections on June 24.