Turkish citizens are heading to the polls today to vote in presidential and parliamentary elections, which is probably the single most important election since the first multi-party election was held in 1946.
As 2023 is the year which marks the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey, the results will have symbolic value.
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been in power since 2002. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has ruled as prime minister (2003 to 2014) and as president (2014-present).
During his term as prime minister, Erdoğan argued that the incumbent political establishment slowed down progress in Turkey and called for a new Turkey in a campaign that he dubbed “Turkey’s century”.
The coup d'etat attempt in 2016 provided Erdoğan with an opportunity to push forward his idea to change the system. In April 2017, a referendum was held to vote on amendments to the constitution, enabling the system change, proposed by AKP and its ally Nationalist Action Party (MHP).
Erdoğan got what he wanted with 25,157,463 (51.41%) “yes” votes to 23,779,141 (48.59%) “no” votes.
As a result, the office of the prime minister was abolished and replaced with a presidential system and executive presidency, where the president is elected every five years.
The first presidential election under the new system in 2018
The presidential election is a two-round system. If no candidate is able to cross the “50% plus one” threshold, two candidates with the highest votes compete in a run-off.
Six candidates ran for the presidential post in 2018. Erdoğan won in the first round with 52.59% of votes, becoming the first president of the new system. His closest contender, Muharrem İnce of the Republican Peoples Party (CHP) received 30.64%.
Municipal election in March 2019
The last time Turkish voters went to the polls was in March 2019 for municipal elections. The results were a disappointment for Erdoğan and had a major political impact on Turkish politics.
AKP lost the municipalities of major cities of Istanbul, Ankara, Bolu and Antalya, which it had held for the last 20 or more years under other party banners.
CHP took over these cities and two star figures entered onto the Turkish political stage: Ekrem İmamoğlu (CHP), new Mayor of Istanbul and Mansur Yavaş (CHP), new Mayor of Ankara.
Upcoming parliamentary election
According to the Supreme Election Council, 60,904,499 people are eligible to vote in a total of 190,736 voting centres.
Another 3,286,786 are eligible to vote abroad, in 4,969 voting centres established in 74 countries. These are Turks living abroad, with the majority in Germany, and also in big numbers in France, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Austria.
Thirty-six political parties have qualified to participate in the elections but four will be participating within the lists of other political parties and thus, names and logos of 32 parties will appear on the ballot papers.
There are 87 constituencies, and each constituency has a certain number of parliamentarians depending on the population. In total, there are 600 parliamentarians and İstanbul is the constituent with the greatest number of representatives, with 98.
As a result of 2018 elections, distribution of parliamentarians in İstanbul was as follows: AKP 43, CHP 27, HDP 11, İYİP 8, MHP 8, TİP 1.
The D’Hondt method is used in calculating the number of parliamentarians.
Calculation and distribution of deputies in the electoral districts will be determined by considering the number of votes received by each party within the alliance in that electoral district. The votes cast abroad are added proportionally to the votes the parties receive across the country.
The election threshold in Turkey was 10%, which was considered too high for fair democratic representation. In March 2022, it was brought down to 7%, which is an improvement but still high compared to an average of 5% in democracies across the globe.
