Another election has gone by and the ruling party AKP (Justice and Development Party) has won the elections, receiving 46.50% of the vote. AKP has won 341 seats, CHP (People's Republican Party) 112, and MHP (Nationalist Movement Party) 71. In addition, 26 independent MPs have entered the Parliament. AKP has won a majority that ailows it to form a single-party government, and this has boosted the business world's hopes that its preelection expectations would be realized. Thinking that AKP has obtained very good results in the elections, the business world now expects some action on both the unemployment package and the social security reform that had been shelved during the past term.
Evaluating the results, Halit Narin, President of the Turkish Textile Employers' Association said, "AKP needs to adopt broad-based and longterm policies focusing on production and unemployment. Unemployment should become a priority." Narin further said, "The main goal of a well-planned system should be a policy designed to reduce unemployment through investment. AKP can no longer hesitate and is no longer subject to criticism. People have indicated support to the party by saying, Turkey has to grow; there might be shortcomings, but the goal should be continuous growth.' This is the outcome of the elections. So, there must be a response to this support now. What needs to be done is to support investments."Senol Sankaya, President of the Uludag Ready-to-Wear Exporters' Association and CEO of Yesim Textile, said that the problems of the non-financial sector had not been adequately addressed during the first term of the AKP government and that the focus had mainly been on the financial sector. Sankaya said, "We hope that the government will address the problems of the non-financial sector in its second term. Employment costs and energy costs, and especially the cost of natural gas, should be lowered.Meanwhile, the Turkish Confederation of Employers' Associations (TISK) announced a list of recommendations for the first 180 days of the 60th government that will be formed in the coming days. Demands from the new government cover a wide range of topics, from reducing the burden of taxes and social security payments as a solution for unemployment, to completing the privatization process.