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, referendums are also held occasionally.
The parliamentary elections are held every five years. 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.
The constitutional referendum of 2017 enhanced the powers of the president, and since 2018, the focus has shifted from parliamentary to the presidential elections.
Schedule
Bold: latest elections, italic: upcoming elections
List of elections
Presidential elections
Parliamentary elections
The following sections give list of key results.
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.
Senate elections 1961–80
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. Citizens have the opportunity to vote for the following offices, depending on the type of area they reside:
People living in metropolitan cities:
Metropolitan municipality mayor
District mayor
Municipal council members
Muhtar
People living in cities:
Mayor
Municipal council members
Provincial assembly members
Muhtar
People living in villages:
Provincial assembly members
Muhtar
The following is a summary of the past local elections.
1930 Turkish local elections
CHP: 502 municipalities
SCF: 40 municipalities
1934 Turkish local elections
1938 Turkish local elections
1942 Turkish local elections
1946 Turkish local elections
CHP: 54.65%
DP: 43.35%
1950 Turkish local elections – September 3, 1950
DP: 560 municipalities
CHP: 40 municipalities
1955 Turkish local elections
1963 Turkish local elections – November 17, 1963
AP: 45.48%
CHP: 36.22%
YTP: 6.51%
MP: 3.09%
CKMP: 3.06%
TİP: 0.4%
...others
1968 Turkish local elections – June 2, 1968
AP: 49.06%
CHP: 27.9%
GP: 6.62%
MP: 3.5%
TİP: 2.72%
BP: 1.64%
...others
1973 Turkish local elections – December 9, 1973
CHP: 37.09%
AP: 32.32%
DP: 10.75%
MSP: 6.2%
CGP: 2.9%
MHP: 1.33%
...others
1977 Turkish local elections – December 11, 1977
CHP: 41.73%
AP: 37.1%
MSP: 6.91%
MHP: 6.62%
DP: 1.0%
...others
1984 Turkish local elections – March 25, 1984
ANAP: 41.52%
SODEP: 23.35%
DYP: 13.25%
HP: 8.76%
MDP: 7.09%
RP: 4.4%
Independent: 1.63%
1989 Turkish local elections – March 26, 1989
SHP: 28.69%
DYP: 25.13%
ANAP: 21.8%
RP: 9.8%
DSP: 9.03%
MHP: 4.14%
...others
1994 Turkish local elections – March 27, 1994
DYP: 21.41%
ANAP: 21.09%
RP: 19.14%
SHP: 13.53%
DSP: 8.75%
MHP: 7.95%
CHP: 4.61%
...others
1999 Turkish local elections – April 18, 1999
DSP: 18.7%
MHP: 17.17%
FP: 16.48%
ANAP: 15.03%
DYP: 13.21%
CHP: 11.08%
...others
2004 Turkish local elections – March 28, 2004
AKP: 41.6%
CHP: 18.2%
MHP: 10.4%
DYP: 9.9%
2009 Turkish local elections – March 22, 2009
AKP: 38.99%
CHP: 23.23%
MHP: 16.13%
...others
2014 Turkish local elections – March 30, 2014
AKP: 43.31%
CHP: 25.59%
MHP: 17.63%
...others
2019 Turkish local elections – March 31, 2019
AKP: 44.32%
CHP: 30.10%
İYİ: 7.45%
...others
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
Referendums
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.
See also
Electoral cycle of Turkey
List of cabinets of Turkey
Multi-party period of the Republic of Turkey
Parliamentary terms of Turkey
Government of Turkey
Electoral calendar
Electoral system
References
External links
Elections in Turkey - Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
Supreme Election Council