Turkey: President, 24 June 2018

At stake in this election:

• The office of the President

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Recep Tayyip ERDOGAN
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Binali YILDIRIM*
• Assembly: Turkey has a unicameral Grand National Assembly of Turkey (Turkey Buyuk Millet Meclisi) with 600 seats**

*YILDIRIM will be will be stepping down as Prime Minister following the election. The office was abolished in a 2017 referendum that extended presidential powers widely.

**The referendum also increased the number of seats in the Assembly from 550 to 600, lowered the minimum age for deputies to 18, and increased terms from 4 to 5 years. 

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 5 year term.
• In the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (Turkiye Buyuk Millet Meclisi) 600 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 5-year terms.*

* There are 79 MMD corresponding to the provinces. Each party must clear a national threshold of 10 percent and at least one D’Hondt quotient in the district from which it is elected. Additionally, a candidate may be seated only if his party is organized in one-third of districts within each of half of the provinces, and has nominated two candidates for each seat in at least half of provinces.  

Election Note:

• ERDOGAN called for snap presidential elections, moving them up from the original November 2019 date. 
• In the 2017 referendum, ERDOGAN succeeded in his attempts to expand the power of the presidency beyond its more ceremonial former role. The referendum abolished the offices of Prime Minister and Council of Minsters, established the President as the head of the executive branch, and created the position of vice president. The president is now allowed to maintain ties to a political party and will have broad authority over the judiciary system. 

Main Candidates in this Election:

• Recep Tayyip ERDOGAN
  • Party: Justice and Development Party (AKP)
• Muharrem İNCE
  • Party: Republican Peoples Party (CHP)
• Meral AKSENER
  • Party: Good Party / Iyi Party 
• Temel MOLLAOĞLU
  • ​Party: Saadet
• Selahattin DEMIRTAS*
  • Party: People’s Democratic Party (HDP)

*DEMIRTAS has been in prison for the last 20 months, and has been running his campaign primarily through social media, from prison.

Last election:

• Recep Tayyip ERDOGAN was elected in the first directly elected presidential contest in the history of Turkey. He receieved 21,000,143 votes (or 51.79%) to the runner-up Ekmeleddin IHSANOGLU's 15,587,720 (38.4%). 

Population and Voter Registration:

• Population: 81,619,392 (July 2014 est.)
• Registered Voters: 50,189,930 (2011 est.)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 39,414,618 (2014)

·         Is Turkey a signatory to CEDAW: No

·         Has Turkey ratified CEDAW: Yes, accession (20 December 1985)

·         Gender Quota: No (there are some political parties that have adopted voluntary gender quotas)

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 79 (following the 2011 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 72 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Low (2014)

Disability Data:

·         Is Turkey a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has Turkey ratified CRPD: Yes (28 September 2009)

·         Population with a disability: 12,242,908 (est.)