The AKP fears a level playing field

The Constitutional Court’s decision to accept an “admissible” application by three small political parties, which stand on the fringes of the political spectrum, to have the 10 percent electoral threshold reduced has seriously agitated members of the government.

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ and government spokesman Bülent Arınç are openly or implicitly claiming this is part of an attempt to topple the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

They are also accusing the high court of engaging in politics by accepting this application, and maintaining that only Parliament can reduce the electoral threshold. Arguing that this threshold was put in place at the time against their party, other members of the government are saying it is not their responsibility to reduce it now.

There is some truth in what the APK says. The 10 percent threshold was indeed put in place initially to keep Islamist and pro-Kurdish parties out of Parliament. It was argued then that this was necessary for political stability. However, the composition of Parliament since 2002 shows that this not only failed, but actually turned against those who avidly supported it at the time.

There are other facts to consider, too. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2008 that the 10 percent threshold was not a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, even though it was far in excess of thresholds in other democratic countries.

On the other hand, recent remarks by Haşim Kılıç, the head of the Constitutional Court, show that while the application to reduce the electoral threshold was admitted as admissible by the high court, it has to first be considered on procedural grounds.