Since the foundation of the
Republic of Turkiye
in 1923, the country held seven
referendums
on national level. In the first two referendums (
1961
and
1982
), new Constitutions were submitted to public approval by military regimes. The remaining five referendums concerned Constitutional reforms and legislative changes proposed by civilian governments in
1987
,
1988
,
2007
,
2010
and
2017
.
[1]
The processes of submission to the public vote are carried out by the election boards under the management and supervision of the
Supreme Election Council
.
Constitutional referendums
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Amendments to the constitution
can be put to referendum by both the legislative branch (
parliament
) and the executive branch (
president
).
A referendum on the constitutional amendment is held on the first
Sunday
after the sixtieth day following the publication of the relevant amendment in the
Official Gazette
.
[2]
In conformity with the conditions set forth in the law, all Turkish citizens over eighteen years of age have the
right to vote
in elections and to take part in referendums. In accordance with the Law No. 298 on Basic Provisions of Elections and Electoral Registers, citizens in foreign countries can cast their votes starting twenty days before the referendum.
[3]
Presidential election referendums
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According to article 101 of the Constitution,
presidential elections
can be turned into a referendum under certain conditions. Turkey elects its presidents with a
two-round system
. If one of the presidential candidates who gains the right to run for the second round is unable to participate in the election for any reason, the second round shall be conducted by substituting the vacant candidacy in conformity with the ranking in the first round. If only one candidate remains for the second round, this ballot shall be then conducted as a referendum. If the presidential candidate receives the majority of the valid votes, he or she shall be elected as president. If that candidate fails to receive the majority of the valid votes in the election, the presidential election are scheduled be renewed.
[4]
Referendum results
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Voters tended to vote "yes" in the referendums. However, excluding the 1961 and 1982 referendums, which took place under the conditions of a military regime, two of the remaining five referendums did not result in the way the ruling political parties desired. The average rate of acceptance by the public of the proposals brought by the governments in those referendums was 52.6%.
[5]
Turkish governments have not achieved easy victories in the referendums. The
ANAP governments
faced undesirable results in both referendums in 1987 and 1988. The constitutional amendment, which was put to a referendum by the
government in 2017
, received the approval of the voters by a small margin. It is noteworthy that the differences between "yes" and "no" votes were small, especially in the 1987 and 2017 referendums. Below is the overview of all the referendums.
[6]
See also
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Bibliography
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]
- Osmanba?o?lu, Gulsen Kaya; Bekaro?lu, Edip Asaf (2019).
Turkiye'de referandumlar
(in Turkish). Ankara: Orion Kitabevi.
ISBN
978-605-9524-51-3
.
References
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Referendums in Europe
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Sovereign states
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States with limited
recognition
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Dependencies and
other entities
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