Turkey’s democracy has had many pitfalls since the early
days of the modern republic. The ruling elite, initially from the military and
recently from the conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP), have
tweaked the rules of the game to exclude others and preserve their stay in power.
Since 2002, Turkey’s powerful AKP politicians benefited from the rule that
required political parties to win at least 10% of the votes to send
representative to the parliament. Kurdish politicians, especially, were marginalized
forcing them to compete for elections only as independents, increasing the
chances of the more powerful parties, in this case the AKP, to artificially
inflate their share of seats. If the 10% rule were not in place, and more political
parties were represented this time around, AKP would have an easier time
finding a coalition partner that had won just 17 seats--not 80.
For the first time, the pro-Kurdish party known as Peoples’
Democracy Party (HDP) has surpassed the 10% threshold and will be sending about
81 highly disciplined members to the parliament. This victory is not only good
for the Kurdish people, it is also good for Turkish democracy. It deprived the
increasingly authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from a chance to
amend the constitution and give himself more powers. It solidified political
pluralism. And it added a voice to minority voices in a political landscape
dominated by a single party for nearly two decades.
Now that the chances of changing the political system into a
presidential system are significantly reduced, Turkish politicians should amend
the constitution to strengthen their democracy, limit the power of demagogues,
and usher in an era of cooperation. For this to happen, the terms of forming a
coalition government, be it with the AKP or without AKP, must include their
agreement to significantly reduce the 10% threshold.
In reducing this absurdly high bar, more political parties
will be able to take part in the democratic process and it will be easier for
political parties to form coalition governments and work together instead of
calling for new costly elections that rarely change the circumstances. Should
this happen, Turkey will be able to escape the cult-of-personality politics
that dominated public life in that country for so long. Then, Turkey can play a
constructive role in a region deeply in need of stability, institutional
governance, and peaceful transfer of power.
Key Stats (not official):
AKP now has 259 seats, 276 seats are needed to form a
government; 367 seats are needed to change the constitution directly; 330 seats
to call a referendum to change the system.
PLACE
|
PARTY
|
VOTE
SHARE
% |
TOTAL
VOTES
|
Seats
|
1
|
AKP
|
40.92
|
19,156,242
|
259
|
2
|
CHP
|
24.78
|
11,601,912
|
131
|
3
|
MHP
|
16.25
|
7,608,186
|
79
|
4
|
HDP
|
13.42
|
6,284,299
|
81
|
5
|
SP
|
2.06
|
964,943
|
0
|
6
|
BĞSZ
|
1.02
|
477,508
|
0
|
7
|
VP
|
0.33
|
155,286
|
0
|
8
|
DSP
|
0.20
|
91,408
|
0
|
9
|
BTP
|
0.19
|
90,382
|
0
|
10
|
DP
|
0.15
|
69,463
|
0
|
11
|
TURKP
|
0.13
|
62,777
|
0
|
12
|
HAKPAR
|
0.11
|
53,525
|
0
|
13
|
HKP
|
0.11
|
52,789
|
0
|
14
|
DYP
|
0.06
|
28,327
|
0
|
15
|
ANAPAR
|
0.06
|
26,503
|
0
|
16
|
LDP
|
0.05
|
25,597
|
0
|
17
|
MEP
|
0.04
|
19,267
|
0
|
18
|
MP
|
0.04
|
18,001
|
0
|
19
|
KP
|
0.03
|
13,963
|
0
|
20
|
YURTP
|
0.02
|
9,692
|
0
|
21
|
HAP
|
0.01
|
5,508
|
0
|
____________
* Prof. SOUAIAIA teaches at the University of Iowa. His
most recent book, Anatomy of Dissent in Islamic Societies, provides a historical and theoretical
treatment of rebellious movements and ideas since the rise of Islam. Opinions
are the author’s, speaking on matters of public interest; not speaking for the
university or any other organization with which he is affiliated.
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