IFES Election Guide - Election Profile for Turkey

Election Profile:

Overview

Results

Of Interest/Links

Sources

Country: Turkey
Official Name: Republic of Turkey
Election Type: Referendum
Date: September 12, 2010

Source for election date

At stake in this Referendum:

A referendum to modify the existing constitution of Turkey.

Description of government structure:

Chief of State: President Abdullah GUL
Head of Government: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ERDOGAN
Assembly: Turkey has a unicameral Grand National Assembly of Turkey (Turkiye Buyuk Millet Meclisi) with 550 seats.

Description of electoral system:

The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 5-year term.*
The Prime Minister is appointed by the President.
In the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (Turkiye Buyuk Millet Meclisi) 550 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.***

* The electoral system is two-round. Candidates must be members of the Grand National Assembly supported by 20 of its members, or nominees by political parties that have attained more than 10 percent of votes in the last legislative election. Candidates must be 40 years of age and have completed higher education.

*** There are 79 MMD corresponding to the provinces. Each party must clear a national threshold of 10 percent and at least one D'Hondt quotient in the district from which it is elected. Additionally, a candidate may be seated only if his party is organized in one-third of districts within each of half of the provinces, and has nominated two candidates for each seat in at least half of provinces.

Main provisions in the Referendum:

A referendum to modify the existing constitution of Turkey.* The revisions would make the military more accountable to civilian courts as well as give parliament a say in appointing judges. It would also allow public servants the right to collective agreement and the right to strike, and end immunity from prosecution for 1980 military coup leaders.

* Full text of the changes can be found in the "Of Interest/Links" section in the top right corner of the profile.