Elections in Turkey

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.

Politics of Turkey
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Executive
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Elections
Foreign relations
See also
 Turkey portal

The Parliament (Meclis) 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 7%. Smaller parties can avoid the electoral threshold by forming an alliance with bigger parties, in which it is sufficient that total votes of the alliance passes the 7%. 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.

To put forward a referendum regarding constitutional amendments, a supermajority (three fifths of the votes) in the parliament is required first. These kinds of referendums are binding.

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 mainly been dominated by conservative parties. Even the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) tends to identify itself with the "tradition" of Democrat Party (DP). While on the left side of the spectrum, parties like Republican People's Party (CHP), Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP) and Democratic Left Party (DSP) have enjoyed the largest electoral success on the left.

Schedule
Past Future
20142015201620172018201920202021202220232024
Type Local
Presidential		 General (June)
General (Nov.)		 None Constitutional
referendum		 General
(Parliamentary &
Presidential)		 Local None None None General
(Parliamentary &
Presidential)		 Local
  • Bold: latest elections, italic: upcoming elections

List of elections

Presidential elections
Main article: Turkish presidential elections

Parliamentary elections

The following sections give list of key results.[1]

At first, Turkey had a unicameral legislature, with the main chamber being the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. This lasted until 1961, when the new Constitution of 1961 replaced the previous unicameral (one house) system with a bicameral (two house) one. The Grand National Assembly was downgraded to the position of the lower house whilst the newly founded Senate of the Republic became the upper house. However, the constitution of 1982 abolished the Senate and Turkey once again adopted a unicameral system.

DateElection
21 July 19461946 Turkish general election
14 May 19501950 Turkish general election
2 May 19541954 Turkish general election
27 October 19571957 Turkish general election
15 October 19611961 Turkish general election
10 October 19651965 Turkish general election
12 October 19691969 Turkish general election
14 October 19731973 Turkish general election
5 June 19771977 Turkish general election
6 November 19831983 Turkish general election
29 October 19871987 Turkish general election
20 October 19911991 Turkish general election
25 December 19951995 Turkish general election
18 April 19991999 Turkish general election
3 November 20022002 Turkish general election
22 July 20072007 Turkish general election
12 June 20112011 Turkish general election
7 June 20152015 (June) Turkish general election
1 November 20152015 (November) Turkish general election
24 June 20182018 Turkish general election

Results summary of the past elections
  1. CHP: 287 seats
  2. Independent: 30 seats
  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:[2] 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
  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)
  1. AK Party: 258 seats
  2. CHP: 132 seats
  3. MHP: 80 seats
  4. HDP: 80 seats
  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
DateElection
15 October 19611961 Turkish senate elections
7 June 19641964 Turkish senate elections
5 June 19661966 Turkish senate elections
2 June 19681968 Turkish senate elections
14 October 19731973 Turkish senate elections
12 October 19751975 Turkish senate elections
7 June 19771977 Turkish senate elections
14 October 19791979 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:[3]

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.

  • 1936 Turkish parliamentary by-elections
  • 1945 Turkish parliamentary by-elections
  • 1947 Turkish parliamentary by-elections
  • 1948 Turkish parliamentary by-elections
  • 1949 Turkish parliamentary by-elections
  • 1951 Turkish parliamentary by-elections
  • 1966 Turkish parliamentary by-elections
  • 1968 Turkish parliamentary by-elections
  • 1975 Turkish parliamentary by-elections
  • 1979 Turkish parliamentary by-elections
  • 1986 Turkish parliamentary by-elections
  • 2003 Turkish parliamentary by-elections

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.[4]

Voter turnout at parliamentary elections [1950-2018]
1950195419571961196519691973197719831987199119951999200220072011201520182023
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. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-06-09. Retrieved 2015-06-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. Both CMP and CKMP succeeded MP
  3. "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.
  4. 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.
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