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             In Turkey, Erdogan's PM Choice is Central to Ambitions

   by Dorian Jones

   With Recep Tayyip Erdogan elected president, his first challenge is
   finding a successor for the office of prime minister and a leader for
   his political party, AKP. While he says he wants to maximize the power
   of the presidency, the real power still remains in parliament.

   With a general election due in less than a year, finding a leader that
   can keep his party united -- while at the same time is loyal enough to
   maintain his power -- is seen as a key challenge facing Erdogan.

   His supporters celebrated into the early morning after Erdogan was
   elected Turkey's 12th president.

   While he scored a first-round victory with an absolute majority of the
   voters, analyst Sinan Ulgen of the Carnegie Institute in Brussels said
   the new president has a pressing problem.

   According to the Turkish constitution, the main executive power is held
   by the prime minister and not the president, according to Ulgen. It is
   clear Erdogan will want to introduce a de-facto executive presidency,
   but that is going to be difficult given Turkish constitutional order.
   So the name that will replace Erdogan as the next prime minister of the
   country, will also be extremely important.

   Although his AK Party dominates parliament, choosing a successor may
   not be easy. Ulgen said the new prime minister will have to be a
   skilled politician.

   "The next prime minister will have to do a very complicated act of
   political balancing. On the one hand, he will have to impose his
   authority over the party. He will need to have to establish a sense of
   balance with the president-elect. And he will have to take his party to
   the parliamentary elections in 2015," he said.

   AK Party unity

   Another factor, which Erdogan is expected weigh when choosing a new
   prime minister, will be the ability of his successor to hold the ruling
   AK Party together.

   The party is made up of wide-ranging and often conflicting factions.
   Analysts say Erdogan's biggest achievement as prime minister was his
   ability to keep the party united.

   Next year, Turkey holds general elections. Political columnist Asli
   Aydintasbas of the Turkish newspaper Milliyet, said the outcome of
   those polls will be crucial to Erdogan's ambitions.

   "Erdogan will not be the head of the party so the party will go into
   election without an extremely charismatic figurehead," he said. "They
   will actually be fighting their own battles. And on top of it, if they
   don't raise their votes, they will fall short of the number in
   parliament they need to change the constitution. So who heads the party
   for 2015 is extremely important."

   Turkey's recent political history is littered with powerful political
   leaders who, after becoming president, have seen their powers whither.

   If Erdogan is able to orchestrate the appointment of a malleable
   interim prime minister, he is expected to influence decisions and
   continue to run the government until he fulfills his long-term ambition
   of replacing the parliamentary system with a presidential one. This
   makes his choice of successor one of the most important decisions he
   will have to make in his new role.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/choice-of-prime-minister-in-turkey-is
   -central-to-erdogan-ambitions/2409751.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/choice-of-prime-minister-in-turkey-is-central-to-erdogan-ambitions/2409751.html