Setback for Gursel

The Turkish election campaign was conducted in the shadow of the gallows. Hardly any of the candidates mentioned it, but everyone recalled the execution of ex-Premier Adnan Menderes and two members of his government by General Gursel's military junta. Despite occasional arrests in the campaign weeks, the voting itself was calm and clean. Result: a sharp rebuff to the junta and the 17-month-old revolution.

Ex-President Ismet Inonu's Republican People's Party, though favored by Gursel and most of the generals, won narrowly in the 450-seat National Assembly, but lost 2 to 1 in the race for 150 seats in the Senate. Biggest gains were scored by the newly formed Justice Party, which made a strong bid for Menderes supporters. The dead man, said the Istanbul newspaper Dunya, "mounted his white horse and toured the country from one end to the other."

Since no one party won a decisive majority, Gursel moved quickly in the political vacuum, announced his candidacy for the presidency of the Second Turkish Republic (the President is chosen by the newly elected Parliament). Gursel urged a national coalition of the four parties that contested the election, but the stability of such a combination, unprecedented in Turkish politics, was doubtful. The Justice Party, the Republican's chief rival, was anxious to remain an opposition group. Leaders of the New Turkey Party had split with Menderes & Co. even before the coup. And the small, reactionary Republican Peasant and Nation Party has been feuding with other factions for a decade.

If the coalition experiment works, Turkey would be well on the road toward political progress. If not, another army takeover would surprise no one.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.