Prime Minister Tufan Erhürman handed his resignation to President Mustafa Akıncı today following a decision taken by coalition partner, the Peoples’ Party (HP), to withdraw from the government.
In a statement on social media last night, Erhürman said that he had spoken to President Mustafa Akıncı and would be handing in his resignation so that work to set up a new government without further delay, would begin immediately.
Erhürman also thanked everyone he worked with during the coalition government’s 15 months in office.
Accepting Erhürman’s resignation today, the President said that he believed that he had worked in harmony and dialogue with the four-party coalition.
Pointing out that it was the country’s first four-party coalition, Akıncı said that Erhürman’s job had not been easy.
Akıncı said that he had asked the Prime Minister to remain in office until a new government was formed; the process which he added would begin next week.
He said he would be holding separate meetings with the leaders of all the political parties in parliament starting next week and to assign one of them to form a government that could secure a vote of confidence in parliament.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting with President Akıncı, Prime Minister Erhürman said that the assigning of the party with the largest number of seats in parliament to form a government would be the most appropriate thing for the President to do at this point in time.
“The most correct thing to do is to give the UBP leader Ersin Tatar the task of forming a new government”, he said.
He also said that it was important to form a new government as soon as possible due to the economic crisis the country was currently facing.
“It is important to have a stable government during times like these. I would like to wish the new government all the best because we are truly going through a difficult time”, he said.
Erhürman refrained from commenting on possible government scenarios, adding that the issue will be discussed in detail during a party meeting tonight.
Asked to comment whether early elections were on the horizon, Erhürman said that there was the necessary arithmetic in parliament for alternative coalition scenarios but as the constitution states, early elections will be held if coalition talks fail.
The four-party coalition led by Prime Minister Tufan Erhürman had taken office after receiving a vote of confidence by parliament on February 16, 2018. Twenty-seven MPs had voted in favour of the coalition government, 22 had voted against it and 1 MP had abstained.
