Turkish president gives mandate for government formation

Ankara: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave mandate to the Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader Ahmet Davutoglu to form a new government.

"I plan to hold the first round of talks next week, before Eid al-Fitr," Davutoglu told his party members on Thursday, hours before he was commissioned by the president, Xinhua reported.

According to the constitution, the president gives the mandate to the party that wins the most seats in the election, that is the Justice and Development Party (AKP) with 258 seats. But it is not enough to gain a majority.

Political parties now have 45 days to form a government before the president has the right to take Turkey to a fresh election incase talks fail.

Davutoglu will meet separately with leaders of other parties according to the majority of the number of seats that their parties have secured at parliament.

The second party, the Republican People's Party (CHP) has 132 seats, while the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) both has 80 lawmakers.

"We will not hide anything from the public, we will hold meetings transparently and be constructive," Davutoglu said.

He dismissed claims that the president deliberately delayed the mandate in a bid to call for fresh elections.

According to the procedure, the president should wait for the election of parliament speaker and the selection of the members of the presiding board of the parliament before giving mandate.

If political parties fail to form a government and the president calls for a fresh election, it would likely be held on November 22, some 90 days after the provision of the mandate to form a government.