ANKARA
Another Turkish deputy prime minister has claimed that the country will try to avoid a new election and instead try to form a governing coalition.
Numan Kurtulmus told CNN Turk on Sunday that he thought there would be a coalition deal and “if not, we will ask the public again”.
His remarks come after Turkey's June 7 general election, when the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party came first in its fourth consecutive general election but lost its parliamentary majority.
Four parties which passed the 10 percent electoral threshold – the AK Party; the Republican People’s Party; the Nationalist Movement Party; and the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party – will be negotiating to find a coalition formula following the opening of the parliament with members' oath-taking ceremony.
The Turkish constitution says a new government must be formed within 45 days following the appointment of the leader of the party with the most votes by the president.
If no government is formed, then the country will have to go for an early election.
"President [Recep Tayyip Erdogan], as a politician who knows Turkey has suffered a lot from early elections, has always been against the idea," Kurtulmus said on Sunday.
