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 is 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.[1]
See main article: Turkish presidential elections.
| Date | Election | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 29 October 1923 | Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was elected founding president. | ||
| 1 November 1927 | Mustafa Kemal Atatürk re-elected | ||
| 4 May 1931 | Mustafa Kemal Atatürk re-elected | ||
| 1 March 1935 | Mustafa Kemal Atatürk re-elected | ||
| 11 November 1938 | İsmet İnönü succeeded Mustafa Kemal Atatürk | ||
| 3 April 1939 | İsmet İnönü re-elected | ||
| 8 March 1943 | İsmet İnönü re-elected | ||
| 5 June 1946 | İsmet İnönü re-elected | ||
| 22 May 1950 | Celâl Bayar succeeded İsmet İnönü | ||
| 14 May 1954 | Celâl Bayar re-elected | ||
| 1 November 1957 | Celâl Bayar re-elected | ||
| 26 October 1961 | After the 1961 coup, Cemal Gürsel was elected president. | ||
| 28 March 1966 | Cevdet Sunay succeeded Cemal Gürsel | ||
| 6 April 1973 | Fahri Korutürk succeeded Cevdet Sunay | ||
| 12 March 1980 | Parties failed to elect a president, 1980 coup d'état ensued | ||
| 31 October 1989 | Turgut Özal succeeded Kenan Evren | ||
| 16 May 1993 | Süleyman Demirel succeeded Turgut Özal | ||
| 5 May 2000 | Ahmet Necdet Sezer succeeded Süleyman Demirel | ||
| 28 August 2007 | Abdullah Gül succeeded Ahmet Necdet Sezer | ||
| 10 August 2014 | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan succeeded Abdullah Gül | ||
| 24 June 2018 | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan re-elected | ||
| 28 May 2023 | 2023 Turkish presidential election | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan re-elected |
See main article: Parliamentary elections in Turkey. The following sections give list of key results.[2]
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.
| Date | Election | |
|---|---|---|
| 21 July 1946 | 1946 Turkish general election | |
| 14 May 1950 | 1950 Turkish general election | |
| 2 May 1954 | 1954 Turkish general election | |
| 27 October 1957 | 1957 Turkish general election | |
| 15 October 1961 | 1961 Turkish general election | |
| 10 October 1965 | 1965 Turkish general election | |
| 12 October 1969 | 1969 Turkish general election | |
| 14 October 1973 | 1973 Turkish general election | |
| 5 June 1977 | 1977 Turkish general election | |
| 6 November 1983 | 1983 Turkish general election | |
| 29 October 1987 | 1987 Turkish general election | |
| 20 October 1991 | 1991 Turkish general election | |
| 25 December 1995 | 1995 Turkish general election | |
| 18 April 1999 | 1999 Turkish general election | |
| 3 November 2002 | 2002 Turkish general election | |
| 22 July 2007 | 2007 Turkish general election | |
| 12 June 2011 | 2011 Turkish general election | |
| 7 June 2015 | 2015 Turkish general election (Jun) | |
| 1 November 2015 | 2015 Turkish general election (Nov) | |
| 24 June 2018 | ||
| 14 May 2023 | 2023 Turkish general election |
| Date | Election | |
|---|---|---|
| 15 October 1961 | 1961 Turkish senate elections | |
| 7 June 1964 | 1964 Turkish senate elections | |
| 5 June 1966 | 1966 Turkish senate elections | |
| 2 June 1968 | 1968 Turkish senate elections | |
| 14 October 1973 | 1973 Turkish senate elections | |
| 12 October 1975 | 1975 Turkish senate elections | |
| 7 June 1977 | 1977 Turkish senate elections | |
| 14 October 1979 |
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:[3]
People living in metropolitan cities:
People living in cities:
People living in villages:
This is a summary of the past local 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.
See main article: Referendums in Turkey.
| Date | Referendum | |
|---|---|---|
| 9 July 1961 | 1961 Turkish constitutional referendum | |
| 7 November 1982 | 1982 Turkish constitutional referendum | |
| 6 September 1987 | 1987 Turkish constitutional referendum | |
| 25 September 1988 | 1988 Turkish constitutional referendum | |
| 21 October 2007 | 2007 Turkish constitutional referendum | |
| 12 September 2010 | 2010 Turkish constitutional referendum | |
| 16 April 2017 | 2017 Turkish constitutional referendum |
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]
| 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% | 87.1% |