YENİ Parti shows split voting on new solidarity law

The passage of the Law on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey has sparked internal debate within the YENİ Parti. During the vote, the party displayed a divided stance: 35 members, including leader Özgür Özel and party executives, voted in favor of the law, while 54 members voted against it.

Özgür Özel addressed the split, stating that the party adopted a ‘hybrid model’ to avoid imposing a single decision on members. He argued that forcing a ‘yes’ vote would have placed deputies in a difficult position, while a unanimous ‘no’ vote would have been exploited by the government. Özel claimed that the lack of transparency in the legislative process, noting that the text was provided to them only thirty minutes before the vote, contributed to the varied responses.

Party sources emphasized that the split does not represent a division in leadership, but rather a reflection of diverse views on the legislative process. They maintained that while the Kurdish issue must be resolved, the current administration is not the appropriate actor to achieve that solution. The party plans to conduct field studies to explain the reasoning behind the different votes to the public.