Electoral system of Turkey

The main criticism of the current system is the high 10% threshold necessary to gain seats. In January 2015, the CHP renewed their parliamentary proposals to lower the threshold to 3% and proposed no changes to the proportional representation system, though the AKP are against lowering the threshold without wider electoral reform.[1][2]

In July 2013, the AKP prepared new proposals, named the 'narrow district system' (daraltılmış bölge sistemi), to change the proportional representation system into either a first-past-the-post system or create smaller constituencies which elect a fewer number of MPs.[3] Under these proposals, the threshold would fall from 10% to either 7 or 8% while Turkey would be split into 129 electoral districts rather than the existing 85.[4][5] İstanbul itself would have been split into 17 or 20 districts.[4] The system will benefit the largest party as well as parties that are the strongest in certain regions, meaning that the AKP and Kurdish nationalist Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) would make the biggest gains. The two main opposition parties CHP and MHP do not have a substantial number of electoral strongholds, meaning that they would be negatively impacted by a narrow-district system.[3] Proposals by the AKP to create a full first-past-the-post system with 550 single-member constituencies were allegedly unveiled in December 2014, though any change in electoral law would have to be passed by parliament at least a year before the election.[6] The AKP's proposals for reform have raised concerns about gerrymandering.[4]

Turkey is split into 87 electoral districts, which elect a certain number of Members to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The Grand National Assembly has a total of 600 seats (increased from 550 seats after 2017 constitutional reforms) a, which each electoral district allocated a certain number of MPs in proportion to their population. The Supreme Electoral Council of Turkey conducts population reviews of each district before the election and can increase or decrease a district's number of seats according to their electorate.

In all but four cases, electoral districts share the same name and borders of the 81 Provinces of Turkey. The exceptions are İzmir, İstanbul, Bursa and Ankara. Provinces electing between 19 and 36 MPs are split into two electoral districts, while any province electing above 36 MPs are divided into three. As the country's four largest provinces, İzmir and Bursa are divided into two subdistricts while Ankara and İstanbul is divided into three. The distribution of elected MPs per electoral district is shown below.[7]

In 2018, total MPs are increased from 550 to 600. Due to this increase, several districts had more MPs. Ankara and Bursa divided into one more electoral district due to this increase. However, Bayburt is represented with one less MP in 2018, making it the only district with a single MP.

A total of eight electoral districts had their number of MPs adjusted since the 2011 general election by the electoral council, as listed below. The two electoral districts of Ankara also had their boundaries changed.[7]

The number of MPs elected per electoral district for the 2015 general election

District 2011 2015 change Ankara 31 32 1 Ankara (I) 16 18 2 Ankara (II) 15 14 1 Bayburt 1 2 1 Elazığ 5 4 1 İstanbul 85 88 3 İstanbul (I) 30 31 1

District 2011 2015 change İstanbul (II) 27 26 1 İstanbul (III) 28 31 3 Kütahya 5 4 1 Manisa 10 9 1 Muş 4 3 1 Ordu 6 5 1

Votes required for each MP in different provinces of Turkey

The number of voters in each province was announced on 17 May 2015.[8] In total, there are 53,741,838 voters in the provinces, which corresponds to 97,712 voters for each MP. However, because of the electoral system, this was not distributed equally to the provinces. In İzmir, where voters per MP was the highest, 118,669 votes corresponded to an MP, whereas in Bayburt, 27,089 voters were represented by an MP.

Two factors caused this more than fourfold disparity.[9] Namely, the electoral law favours provinces smaller in size, which caused İzmir, İstanbul and Ankara, Turkey's largest cities and provinces, to have the least representation per voter. Secondly, the distribution of MPs to provinces was based not on the number of eligible voters, but on total population, which made each vote more valuable in provinces with a young population. For example, the HDP stronghold Hakkari with 154,705 voters got 3 MPs, whereas Yalova with 166,060 voters got 2 MPs. Similarly, Van, another HDP stronghold with 596,809 voter got 8 MPs, whereas Muğla, a CHP stronghold with 665,608 voters got 6 MPs. In Şanlıurfa where AKP and HDP are strong, there were 12 MPs per 974,219 voters, whereas in Manisa, where CHP and MHP perform better than average, votes of 1,006,697 voters determined only 9 MPs. Yusuf Halaçoğlu's bill which would partly mitigate this disparity was rejected in the parliament.[10]

In order to pursue constitutional changes, a party needs either a three-fifths majority or a two-thirds majority, which give the government different powers. These are documented in the table below (valid by 2018 elections).

• 301 seats – Resist a vetoed law
• 360 seats – Put proposed constitutional changes to a referendum (three-fifths majority)
• 400 seats – Change the constitution without needing a referendum (two-thirds majority)

Before the elections, the numbers of councillors and mayors were reduced during the 2013 Turkish local government reorganisation. During the reorganisation, 1,040 beldes were abolished, leaving the number of small town municipalities at 394 and contributing to the reduction in the number of mayors elected in 2014 in comparison to 2009.[11][12]

The following table shows the numbers of metropolitan and district municipalities, as well as provincial and municipal councillors elected in 2009 and in 2014. In local elections, municipal mayors and councillors are the only partisan officials elected.[13][14][15][16]

Office	Elected in 2009	Elected in 2014	Change
Metropolitan municipalities	16[13]	30[17]	14
District municipalities	2,903[14]	1,351[18]	1,552
Provincial councillors	3,281[15]	1,251[19]	2,030
Municipal councillors	32,392[16]	20,500[20]	11,892
Total	38,592	23,132	15,460