Tuesday, 16 March 2010
The ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, submitted a draft bill to Parliament on Monday that includes amendments to the Election Law.
Despite the AKP’s earlier promises, the draft bill doesn’t include an arrangement that would allow for political promotional materials to be printed in languages other than Turkish. The AKP earlier said it would include an arrangement to allow for Kurdish as part of its Kurdish initiative to end the long-standing terror problem in the country.
The draft bill was submitted by the AKP’s Haluk İpek and envisions an extension of the promotional period. Voters will not be able to enter the voting section with their mobile phones and the advertising period can only be for 30 days, according to the bill. Candidates will be able to distribute small gifts such as pencils, notebooks or similar items to the public during the election period. The value of the gifts cannot exceed 5 liras.
