Editing Elections in Turkey (section)

{{Short description|none}}
[[File:Atatürk Airport ballot box 2.JPG|300px|thumb|Scene inside a polling station during the [[November 2015 Turkish general election|Turkish general election of 2015]]: a voter, election officials and a standard transparent [[ballot box]].]]{{Redirect|Turkey elections|elections where an undesirable "turkey" candidate is elected|Turkey-raising|elections where a literal [[Turkey (bird)|turkey]] has been elected|non-human electoral candidate}}{{Politics of Turkey}}
'''Elections in Turkey''' are held for six functions of [[Government of Turkey|government]]: [[History of Turkish presidential elections|presidential elections]] (national), [[Grand National Assembly of Turkey|parliamentary elections]] (national), [[Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey|municipality mayors]] (local), [[List of districts in Turkey|district mayors]] (local), [[Provinces of Turkey|provincial]] or [[List of municipalities in Turkey|municipal council members]] (local) and [[Muhtar (title)|muhtars]] (local). Apart from [[election]]s, [[Referendums in Turkey|referendums]] are also held occasionally.

The [[Parliamentary elections in Turkey|parliamentary elections]] are held every five years. The [[Grand National Assembly of Turkey|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 [[Political alliance|alliance]] with bigger parties, in which it is sufficient that total votes of the alliance passes the 7%. [[Independent politician|Independent candidates]] are not subject to [[electoral threshold]].

The [[Turkish presidential elections|presidential elections]] are held every five years. The [[President of Turkey|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 [[Grand National Assembly of Turkey|Parliament]]. In this case, the president can be re-elected for a third term.

To put forward a referendum regarding [[constitutional amendment]]s, 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 [[political parties|parties]] and often a fourth party that is electorally successful. Since 1950, parliamentary politics has mainly been dominated by [[Conservatism|conservative]] parties. Even the ruling [[Justice and Development Party (Turkey)|Justice and Development Party]] (AKP) tends to identify itself with the "tradition" of [[Democrat Party (Turkey, 1946–1961)|Democrat Party]] (DP). While on the left side of the spectrum, parties like [[Republican People's Party]] (CHP), [[Social Democratic Populist Party (Turkey)|Social Democratic Populist Party]] (SHP) and [[Democratic Left Party (Turkey)|Democratic Left Party]] (DSP) have enjoyed the largest electoral success.

The [[2017 Turkish constitutional referendum|constitutional referendum of 2017]] enhanced the powers of the president, and since 2018, the focus has shifted from parliamentary to the presidential elections.<ref>{{cite book |last=Carkoglu |first=Ali |date=2022 |editor-last=Schultz |editor-first=Toplak |title=Routledge Handbook of Election Law |publisher=Routledge |pages=247–256 |chapter=Chapter 21: Election Law in Turkey |isbn=9781138393363}}</ref>