Elections in Turkey

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Elections in Turkey are held for six functions of government: presidential elections (national), parliamentary elections (national), municipality mayors (local), district mayors (local), provincial or municipal council members (local) and muhtars (local). Apart from elections, referenda are also held occasionally.

The Parliament (Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi) has 600 members, elected for a five-year term by a system based on closed list proportional representation according to the D'Hondt method. Political parties are subject to an electoral threshold of 10%. Smaller parties can avoid the electoral threshold by forming an alliance with bigger parties, in which it is sufficient that only one party within the alliance passes the 10%. Independent candidates are not subject to electoral threshold.

The presidential elections are held every five years. The president is elected for a term of office of five years and is eligible for one re-election. There's an exception when a president's second term ends prematurely through a decision of the Parliament. In this case, the president can be re-elected for a third term.

Turkey has a multi-party system, with two or three strong parties and often a fourth party that is electorally successful. Since 1950, parliamentary politics has been dominated by conservative parties. Even the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) tends to identify itself with the "tradition" of Democrat Party (DP). The leftist parties, most notable of which is the Republican People's Party (CHP) draw much of their support from big cities, coastal regions, professional middle-class, civil service, military officers, and the religious minority of Alevi.[1]

Although forming a new political party is a constitutional right, the Interior Ministry blocked the Green Party from standing in the general election due by June 2023.[2][3][4]

Schedule[]

Past Future
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Type Local
Presidential 		General (June)
General (Nov.) 		None Constitutional
referendum 		General
(Parliamentary &
Presidential) 		Local None None None General
( &
)
  • Bold: latest elections, italic: upcoming elections

List of elections[]

Presidential elections[]

Main article: History of Turkish presidential elections

Parliamentary elections[]

The following sections give list of key results.[5]

Turkey used single house system before adopting the constitution of 1961. By the constitution of 1961 Turkey adopted two house (bicameral) system where the upper house was called the Senate of the Republic. But by the constitution of 1982, the upper house was abolished.

Date Election
21 July 1946 1946 Turkish general election
14 May 1950 1950 Turkish general election
2 May 1954 1954 Turkish general election
27 October 1957 1957 Turkish general election
15 October 1961 1961 Turkish general election
10 October 1965 1965 Turkish general election
12 October 1969 1969 Turkish general election
14 October 1973 1973 Turkish general election
5 June 1977 1977 Turkish general election
6 November 1983 1983 Turkish general election
29 October 1987 1987 Turkish general election
20 October 1991 1991 Turkish general election
25 December 1995 1995 Turkish general election
18 April 1999 1999 Turkish general election
3 November 2002 2002 Turkish general election
22 July 2007 2007 Turkish general election
12 June 2011 2011 Turkish general election
7 June 2015 2015 (June) Turkish general election
1 November 2015 2015 (November) Turkish general election
24 June 2018 2018 Turkish general election

Results summary of the past elections[]

  • 1923 Turkish general election – June 28, 1923
  • 1927 Turkish general election – 2nd round: July 27, 1927 – MP election: September 1, 1927
  • 1931 Turkish general election – April 25, 1931 – Total: 317
  1. CHP: 287 seats
  2. Independent: 30 seats
  • 1935 Turkish general election – February 8, 1935
  • 1939 Turkish general election – March 26, 1939
  • 1943 Turkish general election – February 28, 1943
  • 1946 Turkish general election – July 21, 1946 – Total: 465
  1. CHP: 396 seats
  2. DP: 62 seats
  3. Independent: 7 seats
  1. DP: 408 seats
  2. CHP: 69 seats
  3. CMP: 1 seat
  4. Independent: 9 seats
  1. DP: 502 seats
  2. CHP: 31 seats
  3. CMP:[1] 5 seats
  4. Independent: 3 seats
  1. DP: 424 seats
  2. CHP: 178 seats
  3. CMP: 4 seats
  4. HP: 4 seats
  1. CHP: 173 seats
  2. AP: 158 seats
  3. YTP: 65 seats
  4. CMKP: 54 seats
  1. AP: 240 seats
  2. CHP: 134 seats
  3. MP: 31 seats
  4. YTP: 19 seats
  5. TİP: 14 seats
  6. CMKP: 11 seats
  7. Independent: 1 seat
  1. AP: 256 seats
  2. CHP: 143 seats
  3. GP: 15 seats
  4. BP: 8 seats
  5. MP: 6 seats
  6. YTP: 6 seats
  7. TİP: 2 seats
  8. MHP: 1 seat
  9. Independent: 13 seats
  1. CHP: 185 seats
  2. AP: 149 seats
  3. MSP: 48 seats
  4. DP: 45 seats
  5. CGP: 13 seats
  6. MHP: 3 seats
  7. TBP: 1 seats
  8. Independent: 6
  1. CHP: 213 seats
  2. AP: 189 seats
  3. MSP: 24 seats
  4. MHP: 16 seats
  5. CGP: 3 seats
  6. DP: 1 seat
  7. Independent: 4 seats
  1. ANAP: 211 seats
  2. HP: 117 seats
  3. MDP: 71 seats
  1. ANAP: 292 seats
  2. SHP: 99 seats
  3. DYP: 59 seats
  1. DYP: 178 seats
  2. ANAP: 115 seats
  3. SHP: 88 seats
  4. RP: 62 seats
  5. DSP: 7 seats
  1. RP: 158 seats
  2. DYP: 135 seats
  3. ANAP: 132 seats
  4. DSP: 76 seats
  5. SHP: 49 seats
  1. DSP: 136 seats
  2. MHP: 129 seats
  3. FP: 111 seats
  4. ANAP: 86 seats
  5. DYP: 85 seats
  6. Independent: 3 seats
  1. AK Party: 363 seats
  2. CHP: 178 seats
  3. Independent: 9 seats
  • 2007 Turkish general election – July 22, 2007 – Total: 550
  1. AK Party: 341 seats
  2. CHP: 112 seats
  3. MHP: 71 seats
  4. Independent: 26 seats (included 20 members of the Democratic Society Party)
  1. AK Party: 327 seats
  2. CHP: 135 seats
  3. MHP: 53 seats
  4. Independent: 35 seats (included 29 members of the Peace and Democracy Party)
  • June 2015 Turkish general election – June 7, 2015 – Total: 550
  1. AK Party: 258 seats
  2. CHP: 132 seats
  3. MHP: 80 seats
  4. HDP: 80 seats
  • November 2015 Turkish general election – November 1, 2015 – Total: 550
  1. AK Party: 317 seats
  2. CHP: 134 seats
  3. HDP: 59 seats
  4. MHP: 40 seats
  1. AK Party: 295 seats
  2. CHP: 146 seats
  3. HDP: 67 seats
  4. MHP: 49 seats
  5. İYİ: 43 seats

Senate elections 1961–80[]

Date Election
15 October 1961 1961 Turkish senate elections
7 June 1964 1964 Turkish senate elections
5 June 1966 1966 Turkish senate elections
2 June 1968 1968 Turkish senate elections
14 October 1973 1973 Turkish senate elections
12 October 1975 1975 Turkish senate elections
7 June 1977 1977 Turkish senate elections
14 October 1979 1979 Turkish senate elections

Local elections[]

The Turkish administrative system defines three different district types for local elections: villages, cities and metropolitan cities. The difference between cities and metropolitan cities derives from the size of the population. Cities with more than 750,000 residents are labeled as metropolitan cities while the rest are simply called cities. There are 31 metropolitan cities and 50 cities across Turkey, and voters in both will have a total of four votes. Depending on the type of area the citizen lives, he or she has the opportunity to cast vote for the following offices:[6]

The following is a summary of the past local elections.

By-elections[]

If too many seats become vacant in the parliament or if elections in a district is not properly conducted, then a by-election is required to take place.

Referenda[]

Voter turnout[]

The voter turnout for the average of 18 parliamentary election is 81.4%; of the local elections is 78.7% and of the referendums is 83.1%. Turkey relatively has a high voter turnout rate comparing to modern democracies. The participation rate in Turkey is also higher than the participation rates in countries where compulsory voting is loosely applied. With the exception of 1960–1970, voter turnout rate in Turkey is above the world average from 1950 to the present in Turkey.[7]

Voter turnout at parliamentary elections [1950-2018]
1950 1954 1957 1961 1965 1969 1973 1977 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2002 2007 2011 2015 2018 2023
89.3% 88.6% 76.6% 81.4% 71.3% 64.3% 66.8% 72.4% 92.3% 93.3% 83.9% 85.2% 87.1% 79.1% 84.2% 83.2% 85.2% 86.2%

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Both CMP and CKMP succeeded MP
  2. ^ "We are starting the legal process to use our democratic right!". Green Party (Turkey). Retrieved 2021-03-22.
  3. ^ Ergin, Sedat. "Türkiye'de bir Yeşiller Partisi kurmaya kalktığınızda" [When you try to establish a Green Party in Turkey]. Hürriyet (in Turkish). Retrieved 2021-12-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ Keyman, Fuat (2022-01-22). "Yeşiller Partisi niye engelleniyor ve Muhalefet ne yapmalı?" [Why is the Green Party blocked and what should the Opposition do?]. PolitikYol (in Turkish). Retrieved 2022-01-27.
  5. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-06-09. Retrieved 2015-06-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ "Seven facts to know about Turkey's local elections". Seven facts to know about Turkey's local elections. 29 March 2019. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  7. ^ Çaylak, Adem (25 October 2017). "Voter turnout in Turkey: a cross-national comparison". Journal of International Social Research. 10 (52): 352–351. doi:10.17719/jisr.2017.1897. Retrieved 30 April 2021.

External links[]

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