Turkish MPs clash in final vote on reform
Afp, Ankara
Turkish lawmakers yesterday began a final vote on constitutional changes that would see the president elected by popular vote as the ruling party and the main opposition wrangled over voting rules. The reforms are pushed by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP). They were introduced after the political turmoil that blocked the election of its presidential candidate by parliament, as the current law requires. The AKP rushed the bill through the assembly earlier this month but President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who has often clashed with the government, rejected the package last week. He said there was "no justifiable and acceptable reason" to change the system. The AKP brought the bill back to parliament, arguing that a popular vote was the only way out of the presidential election deadlock, which forced the sole candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, to withdraw.
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