Elections in Turkey

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.

Schedule

 * Bold: latest elections, italic: upcoming elections

Parliamentary elections
The following sections give list of key results.

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.

Local elections
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:

People living in metropolitan cities:
 * Metropolitan municipality mayor
 * District mayor
 * Municipal council members
 * Muhtar

People living in cities:
 * Mayor
 * Municipal council members
 * Provincial assembly members
 * Muhtar

People living in villages:
 * Provincial assembly members
 * Muhtar

This is a summary of the past local elections:


 * 1930 Turkish local elections
 * CHP: 502 municipalities
 * SCF: 40 municipalities
 * 1934 Turkish local elections
 * 1938 Turkish local elections
 * 1942 Turkish local elections
 * 1946 Turkish local elections
 * CHP: 54.65%
 * DP: 43.35%
 * 1950 Turkish local elections – September 3, 1950
 * DP: 560 municipalities
 * CHP: 40 municipalities
 * 1955 Turkish local elections
 * 1963 Turkish local elections – November 17, 1963
 * AP: 45.48%
 * CHP: 36.22%
 * YTP: 6.51%
 * MP: 3.09%
 * CKMP: 3.06%
 * TİP: 0.4%
 * ...others
 * 1968 Turkish local elections – June 2, 1968
 * AP: 49.06%
 * CHP: 27.9%
 * GP: 6.62%
 * MP: 3.5%
 * TİP: 2.72%
 * BP: 1.64%
 * ...others
 * 1973 Turkish local elections – December 9, 1973
 * CHP: 37.09%
 * AP: 32.32%
 * DP: 10.75%
 * MSP: 6.2%
 * CGP: 2.9%
 * MHP: 1.33%
 * ...others
 * 1977 Turkish local elections – December 11, 1977
 * CHP: 41.73%
 * AP: 37.1%
 * MSP: 6.91%
 * MHP: 6.62%
 * DP: 1.0%
 * ...others
 * 1984 Turkish local elections – March 25, 1984
 * ANAP: 41.52%
 * SODEP: 23.35%
 * DYP: 13.25%
 * HP: 8.76%
 * MDP: 7.09%
 * RP: 4.4%
 * Independent: 1.63%
 * 1989 Turkish local elections – March 26, 1989
 * SHP: 28.69%
 * DYP: 25.13%
 * ANAP: 21.8%
 * RP: 9.8%
 * DSP: 9.03%
 * MHP: 4.14%
 * ...others
 * 1994 Turkish local elections – March 27, 1994
 * DYP: 21.41%
 * ANAP: 21.09%
 * RP: 19.14%
 * SHP: 13.53%
 * DSP: 8.75%
 * MHP: 7.95%
 * CHP: 4.61%
 * ...others
 * 1999 Turkish local elections – April 18, 1999
 * DSP: 18.7%
 * MHP: 17.17%
 * FP: 16.48%
 * ANAP: 15.03%
 * DYP: 13.21%
 * CHP: 11.08%
 * ...others
 * 2004 Turkish local elections – March 28, 2004
 * AKP: 41.6%
 * CHP: 18.2%
 * MHP: 10.4%
 * DYP: 9.9%
 * 2009 Turkish local elections – March 22, 2009
 * AKP: 38.99%
 * CHP: 23.23%
 * MHP: 16.13%
 * ...others
 * 2014 Turkish local elections – March 30, 2014
 * AKP: 43.31%
 * CHP: 25.59%
 * MHP: 17.63%
 * ...others
 * 2019 Turkish local elections – March 31, 2019
 * AKP: 44.32%
 * CHP: 30.10%
 * İYİ: 7.45%
 * ...others
 * 2024 Turkish local elections - March 31, 2024
 * CHP: 37.77%
 * AKP: 35.49%
 * YRP: 6.19%
 * ...others

By-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.
 * 1936 Turkish parliamentary by-elections
 * 1945 Turkish parliamentary by-elections
 * 1947 Turkish parliamentary by-elections
 * 1948 Turkish parliamentary by-elections
 * 1949 Turkish parliamentary by-elections
 * 1951 Turkish parliamentary by-elections
 * 1966 Turkish parliamentary by-elections
 * 1968 Turkish parliamentary by-elections
 * 1975 Turkish parliamentary by-elections
 * 1979 Turkish parliamentary by-elections
 * 1986 Turkish parliamentary by-elections
 * 2003 Turkish parliamentary by-elections

Voter turnout
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.