Parliamentary speaker elections: A litmus test for a coalition?

In a ceremony in Istanbul on June 21 where Reza Zarrab, the Iranian-Turkish businessman who had been accused of bribing four Turkish ministers, was awarded as one of the most successful exporters of Turkey, President Tayyip Erdo?an urged once again for the parties to form a coalition quickly or he would call for early elections.

It is actually a call meant for Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu, also the chairman of the Justice and Development Party (AK Parti), which had lost its majority in the Turkish parliament in the June 7 election but is still the leading one.

The new parliament is to convene on June 23. By tradition, the president could have given it before the convention or even right after it, but Erdo?an said he would wait for the election of the parliamentary speaker.

The speaker, according to the constitution, is the substitute for the president in his absence. By this move, Erdo?an made the election of the speaker a test case for the coalition. It is obvious that whoever is going to shake hands with Davuto?lu is likely to vote for the speaker he would support as well; regardless of which party he or she is from.

Then the 45-day period will start. But since Devlet Bahçeli of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has categorically rejected an offer from Kemal K?l?çdaro?lu of the Republican People?s Party (CHP), all CHP-MHP scenarios have been dropped. The MHP did not want to be in any combination with the Kurdish problem-focused Peoples? Democratic Party (HDP), whether it should be supported from outside.

Bahçeli made another move over the weekend by proposing Nov. 15 as the early election date (Erdo?an likes to call it a ?repeat election?) instead of forming a fragile one of short duration. But that option is not...