Turkey elects on the national level a legislature. The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi) has 550 members, elected for a four year term (five years before the 2007 referendum) by a system based on proportional representation. To participate in the distribution of seats, a party must obtain at least 10% of the votes cast at the national level as well as a percentage of votes in the contested district according to a complex formula . The president was elected for a seven year term by the parliament prior to the 2007 constitutional changes, and will be elected for at most two five-year terms by the people in the future.
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 been dominated by conservative parties. Even the ruling AK Party, although its core is accused of cadring root from the Islamist current, tends to identify itself with the "tradition" of DP. The leftist parties, most notable of which is CHP, draw much of their support from big cities, coastal regions, professional middle-class, civil service, military officers and the religious minority of Alevi.
The Turkish general election, 2007 were held on 22 July 2007. The next one will take place on 12 June 2011.
Turkey's 16th general election was held on July 22, 2007 and resulted in a resounding victory for the incumbent Justice and Development Party. The election was fought mostly on Turkey's debate over secularism and the controversial presidential election held earlier in 2007. This election is expected to set the course of Turkish internal politics well into the next decade.
Recent developments in Iraq (explained under positions on terrorism and security), secular and religious concerns, the intervention of the military in political issues, relations with the EU, the United States, and the Muslim world were the main issues. The outcome of this election, which brought the Turkish and Kurdish ethnic/nationalist parties (MHP and DTP) into the parliament, will affect Turkey's bid for European Union membership, as Turkish perceptions of the current process (or lack thereof) affected the results and will continue to affect policymaking in coming years.
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